Who are You?
by Iam.Titania-falls
Summary: Lucy Heartfillia is assigned to kill the fifth boss of the most dangerous mafia gang-Fairy Tail. She didn't expected herself to actually joined the mafia business for money, well she needed the money after all. There she met with a certain pink haired- "L-Luce?"-"Who are you?" AU Story's better than the summary. Natsu x Lucy and maybe other pairings. Cover by Minallys
1. Chapter 0

Summary; Lucy Heartfillia is assigned to assassinate the fifth boss of the most dangerous mafia, Fairy Tail. She didn't expected to get herself joining it. "L-Luce?!"-"Who are you?" AU

Pairing; NatsuXLucy

* * *

**Mission 0; Proloque~Role of an Survivor**

* * *

**Lucy's POV**

My breath hitched as I ran down the dark rundown alley, water of rains dripping from my dirty blonde hair

I cursed

This one is quite the trouble

A light sigh escaped from my lips and then I stopped myself from running, seeing a dead end.

He chuckled lightly with his men dressed in black suits surrounding him. Soon the chuckling turned into a hysterical laughter that echoed around the alley. I cursed at him as I reached out for my gun, unfortunately for me when I reached it out he pulled the trigger and targeted it to my gun. The gun clattered to the ground and I stood there, no way out

"You girl-" He said, pointing the gun at me. "-are one brave girl indeed. Kill me under the orders of Heita Tsuchiko? You are one greedy girl, aren't you?" Heita Tsuchiko is my client for this mission; kill Julian Braid. And in exchange, I will get 1.000.000 jewels.

You think I am greedy?

I don't mind being called that. I _need _the money for my life, I don't have any choice

I threw a glare at him, "So what if I am? I just need to kill you for the money that's all and would you be kind enough to let me do that?" Laughter echoed, sickening me with his ugly voice

"Now, now be patient little girl-" My eyes traveled around the alley, and found what I needed. My hand slowly reached it, thank goodness that I am quite fast at doing this kind of things. "Why did he want to kill me? To gain my fame? Jealousy? That's all so foolish" _Bingo _"He's an idiot, no wonder that his wife ditched him! See now girl? In this story I am the protagonist and he's the antagonist, I am merely an victim-"

"Shut up old man!" His eyes widened, finding me in front of him holding the trigger. He glanced at his men to find them unconscious, "I am not interested of your relationship with my client so shut up already..."

"And die" I pulled the trigger and he collapsed, blood dripping from his forehead. I turned back and sighed as I let the wind forcefully blow my blonde hair.

_Mission complete_

I have to do missions like this, usually the payment would be good. I needed the money for my life as I said before, so that's it. I will not stop accepting missions, that is my role of survivor

* * *

"Lucy Heartfillia, I assign you to kill this man-" He showed the portrait of a young man with pink hair and black eyes. Pink hair? Unique much? "This man is the fifth boss of Fairy Tail"

"Fairy Tail...isn't that the most dangerous and popular mafia gang?" I asked, my hand reaching out for the portrait. The man at the portrait is shown to be grinning, I don't know why is he so happy but that doesn't concern me.

"But Lucy-dono, you can reject to this mission-"

"No, I'll accept it" I said, and stood up while grabbing my bag. I counted my money, _Enough to stay at a hotel for one night and eat some real food..._

"A mission is a mission,how much is the payment?"

He smirked a little and answered, "2.000.000 jewels"

"Accepted"

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_A/N: My first NaLu! fic ._._

_There's a reason why is Lucy is acting that way so please bear with it! Okay? :D_

_I don't own Fairy Tail..._

_And yes, about the mafia thing..I am currently addicted to Katekyo Hitman Reborn so I got this idea LOL! XD_

_I will be REAALLY happy if you guys reviewed and I would like to read your thoughts about the proloque! First chapter is coming up later_

_So please Review~_


	2. Chapter 1

_A/N; Awie~ Thank you so much for all of the positive feedbacks! When I woke up the morning and checked my emails to found reviews, alerts, and favorites at this fanfic I was very happy that I can pass out..!_

_I don't own Fairy Tail_

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**Mission 1; Because of my Greediness…I…**

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**~Lucy's POV**

This.

Sucks.

I am lost

Why is the town so huge? Although this is not as huge as my former home but still, this is way too huge. I can't locate the building. Tch, it seems that I have to ask someone about this

Asking someone about this kind of thing wasn't really into my liking. Nevertheless, to get the job done and gain some money I asked someone which made me regretting the fact that I did that

Why you ask?

Because the person that I asked intended to stole my money. _My precious __money_

You can guess what happened next

..

..

Okay, rest assured, I didn't kill him…maybe he would only lose conscious for a few days—make that months actually. I sighed, so much for the stamina I intended to save for battling/killing the fifth boss of Fairy Tail

Nah, I'll manage somehow

It can't be that bad…right?

Anyhow, about me being lost and needed to ask someone for directions…I finally found someone that actually knows and is willing to show me the way. Thank God..!

The woman has a waist length white hair and sky blue eyes, her bangs being pinned upwards. She had a gentle smile, not a fake smile like I have. The dress she wore showed her curves. It was red with white frilly flowers at her waist and had a pink colored rose located at her right breast. She was beautiful, although I wonder why when I asked her for direction she had the expression of longing and happiness. When she agreed to me that she'll lead the way, she was really happy for some reason..

I wonder why

* * *

The woman smiled gently at me and she stopped as I followed her tracks. I nodded my head, stopping on my tracks, and then I saw a huge building. Not very small and not very huge though, it has a sign wrote in Algerian 'Fairy Tail' and there was some sort of a logo or something…The place was quite the old one, but I somehow had a feeling of reminisces in this place..I wonder why?

I felt like I seen this before…

She turned at me and squealed, "So…I didn't expect to meet you again Lucy!" The woman suddenly hugged me, startling me in process. What did she meant by that? Do I even know her? She wiped her tears from her eyes and looked directly into my brown burgundy eyes. Blinking slowly, I muttered a 'What?' to her

She shook her head and smiled again, "You must want to meet with Natsu! Ah~ I've been waiting for you all this time! In fact, we were all waiting for you! Let's get inside as soon as possible, Lucy!" She dragged me to the gate and rang the door bell. My mouth opened and I slapped her delicate hands from mine

"W-What are you saying?! Who are you? Why do you act like you know me?!" I yelled at her, not understanding her at all. The woman looked wide eyed at me with sweat on her forehead.

"E-Eh? Lucy, don't you remember me? I'm Mirajane..one of your best friends in Fairy Tail!"

I was taken aback, I never recalled on joining Fairy Tail before this. "Excuse me? I don't recall on being in Fairy Tail! And who's this Natsu anyway?!"

She gasped, and her eyes saddened at this. "L-Lucy…You don't even remember Natsu?" I nodded my head, who's this Natsu person anyway?

The gate opened to reveal a young man with short spiky pink hair and big sharp black eyes. _He's my target!_

"Os! Mira, you're finally back. Hm? Who's this person—" He stopped himself and stared at me, I raised an eyebrow at him and readied my gun. "L-Luce…" He murmured, loud enough for me to hear.

AGAIN!

Someone knows me or at least know my name..a bit..Is today my bad day or something? Déjà vu..

"Who are you?" I asked, pointing my gun at him. Mirajane gaped and rushed to Natsu's side, whispering him something that made him widened his two black orbs. He growled and looked at me

"You really don't remember me Luce?"

"Yes, I do. Now you are the fifth boss of Fairy Tail right? I would like to kill you from the order of my client" I glared at him, gritting my teeth as I pulled the trigger. As expected, the guy dodged it. He frowned and took one glance at Mirajane, as she nodded. It's like they are both agreeing in something…and are able to know what they are talking about only with one glance.

I narrowed my eyebrows and put my gun down; the man was taking step by step to my direction. He stopped as we were about 6 inches from another. And then he grinned, it somehow had a maniac glint on it..

I have a bad feeling about this

A REALLY BAD FEELING

"Ehm, Lucy Heartfillia—"He looked like he forced himself saying that, as if he was really not used to say that. "—I would like you to join my business"

I dropped my gun, and twitched my eyes

"What?" I said, not believing what he just said. Is my ear having problems or this man is the one that is having problems with his brain?!

"I would like you to join Fairy Tail" That damn man…he was smiling in this kind of situation! Here I am, wanting to kill him for money and here he is _grinning _at me and offered me to join Fairy Tail?! Is this man sick or something?!

..

Yeah, he's SUPER sick, weird, and idiot, stupid, dense

Wait, it sounds like I know this man from somewhere..I can't remember

He grinned even wider and stretched his hand, "I'll pay you twice from the payment you are receiving from the order to kill me"

Oh. Shit

I can't reject to this proposal

With uneasiness, I accepted his handshake and answered. "Deal accepted"

I just got into a big mess because of my greediness yes..?

* * *

_A/N; Ehm..I'm very sorry for the SHORT chapter._. It's just that if I continue it, then the gang will appear in this chappie..I promise that chapter 2 is going to be longer!_

_Hinagiku Zeelmart; Thank you for the review _

_ . ; Thank you for the review __ I'm glad you like it_

_Dog's paw burning in hot ash; I love NaLu too, this is my first fanfic of them..I hope that it's good Thx for the review_

_Louricam The Manga Freak; Thanks! Thank goodness that people like the proloque _

_Ravenred321; Thx for the review_

_Blissfulme; Aw thanks ^^ Interesting yes? I'm glad Thx for the review_

_Fanficlord123; Thanks for the review ^^_

_Kuchiki Rukia-Taicho; Ahaha…Sorry! This chapter is short as well __ Thx for the review, glad you like it _

_GoldenRoseTanya; OOOHH what? :D Thx for the review_

_MissMe2306; Haha, Lucy is abit weird right? Thx for the review_

_Once again, I PROMISE THAT CHAPTER 2 IS GOING TO BE LONGER OKAY?!_

_Special thanks to; Hinagiku Zeelmart, . ,dog's paw burning in hot ash, louricam the Manga Freak, ravenred321,blissfulme,FanFiclord123,Kuchiki Rukia-Taicho,GoldenRoseTanya,MissMe2306,Critc-san,amberdelila44,ILoveAnimeGuys,Lolita-Chi,darkmoonlady24_

_Please review! And Updates will be fast like this one _


	3. Chapter 2

_A/N; Special thanks to __**Mariya567 **__who beta-ed this chapter!_

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**Mission 2: Signs of Trouble**

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**~Lucy's POV**

That Natsu Dragneel is a freaking idiot, but smart in his own way. He tricked me using my greediness as the bait.

Damn it.

I have to be patient….every month I get 4,000 000 jewels. That's gotta be fair right? Damn it, this really sucks if I don't get it.

"Luce! Come here for a moment!" The pink haired man ahead of me cheerfully exclaimed as he waved his hand to me, I scowled instead and grudgingly walked to him. I was annoyed as usual and felt no need to return his cheeriness and hissed at him.

"_What_?"

He grinned and opened the door, "Welcome to Fairy Tail!" Do you have to remind me of that? Really now you don't need to remind me of that

Inside, all I could see was a spectacularly messy room; all or at least a large majority of the tables were broken as well as the chairs. Food was scattered everywhere. To be totally blunt, it was dirty as hell. The amount of people inside was overwhelming, and the yelling and screaming made it even harder to process.

"Luce, you see here in Fairy Tail we have to-"

Suddenly, from amidst the chaos, a wooden table slammed into Natsu, knocking him clear off his feet. I sweat dropped as he immediately got up and shouted in an irritatingly loud voice.

"WHO THE HELL THREW THAT HUH?!"

A man with dark blue hair and black onyx eyes blinked at him as he emerged from the debris of what I think used to be a table and growled,

"Flame Brain! Don't interrupt my fight with Loke damnit!" A large vein popped out of his forehead as he ripped his shirt off. Wait…..why is he stripping?! Jeez what _is_ this place?

"Who's interfering in your shitty fight with him huh?! Ya stupid Ice Popsicle?!"

The ensuing fight started so fast that I couldn't even follow it. I found myself just staring, unsure of what do since my guide seemed to feel that beating the crap out of his guild member took precedence over me.

Idiot.

A sudden tap on my shoulder startled me and I turned to see Mira-Jane, ex-mage and current bartender/waitress. I recognized her from her frequent appearances in popular magazines for mages. She giggled at my jumpiness and looked me up and down, sizing me up. Behind the carefree look however, I could see a sort of sadness in her eyes. Something that seemed to intensify when she looked at me.

"New Member?" She asked, cheerfully, skilfully hiding whatever it was that she was feeling. It felt like she was asking me out of duty, not as if she needed to.

When I nodded, she held out a stamp and ushered me to the bar in the back, expertly dodging the flying projectiles that constantly seemed to hit me. She motioned me towards her.

"We have to stamp you with our symbol so you're officially a member of Fairy Tail. It's procedure you could say." I nodded my head, understanding.

"So…What color? And where do you want it to be?" She asked sweetly, genuinely happy that I was joining. And the only color that I could think of was—

"Pink please, on the back of my right hand" I said, pointing to it with my left hand and extending it to her. I don't know why I chose that place,it's just that….I somehow wanted to make it that way as if I was longing for something I can't obtain. Mirajane looked startled for a second but regained her composure and nodded, stamping the mark at my hand

"If you have any questions about the guild, or the job request procedure, feel free to ask me about it okay?" She said to me, I nodded my head swiftly as she started to walk away. However, there was a question nagging at me that I needed answered before she left.

"Why…why do you and Natsu both look at me like that? Like you know me?"

Her smile fell from her face and her eyebrows furrowed. For a second, I could see the sadness contained in those sky blue orbs more clearly than I did before. Biting her lips, she clenched her fists at her sides and answered me with tears threatening to fall.

"I also don't know Lucy, it seems that….you had some troubles back then and maybe lost your memories…But I honestly don't know" She then turned her heels and walked up to the bar to serve other members, leaving me just as confused.

…

Well that was an awkward moment.

Here I am, standing in a mafia building—a mafia group whose boss I was supposed to kill and somehow I got bribed by the very boss I was trying to assassinate which made me a member of this mafia thing. Said boss was currently busy right now even though he was supposed to explain me some things! He was busy fighting that naked man (who was quite attractive I have to admit) and just left me alone with questions damnit! What am I'm supposed to do in this kind of place?!

"So you're the new member?" A voice startled me; it was a woman's voice. I looked behind me and found a woman in a white blouse and thigh length black mini skirt; her legs are covered by the leather stockings and black boots. Her dark brown eyes stared into mine and studied me. Like she couldn't believe me. I had to confess, she was a beautiful woman.

Hang on, I sound like a lesbian there. Please excuse me while I slap myself out of it.

The red headed froze as her pink lips parted to speak in a hushed tone of disbelief, "L-Lucy?"

Good god. How many times are you people going to do this?! What in the hell is going on here?!

I ran a hand through my blonde hair and groaned,

"Yes I am Lucy, what of it? Will someone _please_ start making some decent sense around here?"

She seemed surprised to hear my annoyed tone. But before she could respond, Natsu reappeared. Or rather, Natsu was thrown in our direction.

"What the hell Ice Queen?! You can do better than that Ice Prick!" He shouted with his head covered by ice cream. I smiled at their interaction until I noticed the woman beside me begin to rumble with anger. It seemed the other two had realized this as well and cowered in fear, stopping their fight.

"_What_ are you two doing?" The red headed cracked her knuckles, her eyes glistening red, daring them to lie to her.

"Oh. E-Erza. Didn't see ya there." Natsu said nervously, backing away slowly from her.

I could not believe what I was seeing. What kind of mafia boss gets scared of their own lackey? And brawls with them on an equal level?

After dealing with those two, the woman turned and faced me once again with her eyebrow raised. "Are you really Lucy?"

Okay. If someone asks me this question, I swear to god, I am going to commit suicide.

"L-Lucy?! Woah, you're Lucy right?!" The naked man exclaimed, looking me up and down.

Tired of saying yes, I just stared back stonily.

Natsu grinned and patted their back, "Guys, I would want you to meet Lucy. She's a new member of Fairy Tail"

They looked at me bewildered, which made me laugh a little bit.

"What are you talking about Natsu? Lucy's already—" Erza started to say, but before the red headed could say anymore, Natsu clamped her mouth shut and gave her a pointed look. He then whispered something towards the both of them.

"SHE WHAT?!" They cried, looking back and forth from me to him.

"Is that true Natsu?" He nodded his head in exasperation, his smile looked sad for a moment.

"Well, please tell the other guys about this. And also…tell_him _about this" He frowned when he said_him. _Who's him anyway? He's clearly important, I thought as Natsu's comrades eyes bulged out at this

"Are you serious?! He'll get mad for sure!"

"Yeah, he's not used hearing this kind of news…"

Natsu shook his head, "Everyone has the right to know, tell him about this. If he gets... difficult, get him to my office would you?" They nodded before turning to me and smiled politely.

The red headed woman first extended her hand for a hand shake,

"My name is Erza Scarlet, pleased to meet you Lucy" Erza sighed and retracted the hand when I shook my head, declining it. I didn't like communicating with people very much; it only causes trouble for you because when you communicate it means that you're one step closer to having a friend. And friends sometime can betray each other, if I can help it, I'm not going to put myself in a position like that.

Then the dark eyed man was next, "My name is Gray Fullbuster"

I sighed inwardly and raised my hand as if asking a question, "I just want to ask one thing—" he raised an eyebrow. "—why are you stripping?" He gave me a confused look and saw that he had somehow stripped down to his boxers.

"What the – When did that happen?!" he yelled and stormed off to find his lost articles of clothing.

I stared at his retreating back in shock. He didn't know? I repeat. _What. The. Hell._

Erza coughed to regain my attention and announced the the one thing I was hoping she wouldn't.

"_Minna_, we're having a party for a new member of Fairy Tail!" Everyone cheered for booze, "Yes you can, as long as we clean it afterwards"

Note to self. I _hate_ parties.

* * *

**A few days later**

I was slowly getting used to this place, though I'm still not very fond of it but it's quite comfortable. I am usually seen around Gray, Mirajane, Natsu, and Erza plus one cat namely Happy. Other than them, I also spent much of my time with Juvia Loxar (who called me love rival when we first met…thank goodness that she now understands that I am not going out with him and nor am I interested in doing so), Wendy and Levy.

As a fellow book lover, Levy and I got along pretty well.

"Ne, ne Lu-chan!" The bluenette chirped as she fidgeted with her fingers, "Do you write novels?"

I considered but lying but told the truth.

"Yes…I do…sometimes." To tell the truth, I wrote daily about my adventures with Fairy Tail. It was a wacky place with wacky people and wacky adventures. Not that I would ever say that aloud. I think the thing I treasure the most though, is the fact I now I have friends to share my daily adventures with.

She brightened up and smiled like she was relieved with my answer,

"You're still the same old Lucy I knew!" She covered her mouth, "Oops…wasn't suppose to say that."

I couldn't help but smile at her. It was clear that there was something bigger going on in the background, but I had decided that until they decided to tell me, I would leave it be for now.

Mirajane suddenly popped out of nowhere and gave the brightest smile I've ever seen. It scared me.

"Lucy, do you have a crush on Natsu?" My face flushed beet red, and I dropped my spoon in shock. Talk about sudden.

"Mira-san!" I cried, feeling mortified at the question.

The barmaid merely winked at me, "You two _do _make a cute couple~" she said, not one ounce of remorse visible for asking such a question in public. I groaned. Me? With that lunatic pink haired freak? Ugh, just no

"I do not—"

"If Lucy-san likes Natsu-san then Juvia will have Gray-sama for herself!" Juvia declared, interrupting my denial. She's still going on about that? But her obsession towards Gray was pretty cute.

Creepy. But still cute.

"Anyway~ will you show me what you`ve written sometime?" Levy sweetly asked

I can't say no to her puppy dog eyes right?

"Sure…"

* * *

**In another place, third person't POV**

A tall bearded man sipped his sake, with eyes glaring at the two men in front of him. He grumbled and chugged one bottle of sake,

"Did I make myself clear?" His gruff voice said harshly.

The two men nodded their heads as the older man banged the table with force that broke it in half; they didn't even twitch in surprise.

"I SAID, DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR! ANSWER YOU WEAKLINGS!" The dark haired man mentally sighed and responded.

"Yes, Master Jiemma. We have to go to Fairy Tail to kidnap Lucy Heartfillia and deliver her to Jude Heartfillia." He said, his crimson gaze stayed fixed to the ground. The man beside him nodded

"And we cannot fail, because to make the skies roar, the earth boil, to make the seas silent is Sabertooth" The blonde said, furrowing his eyebrows while biting his lips

Jiemma glared at them and raised a cup of his tea and splashed on the two of them, they flinched at the hot beverage cascading down their faces. "if you two understand, then get out and do your jobs!" Before leaving the room, they bowed their heads to him.

He ran a hand to his blonde hair as soon as they were out of earshot and grimaced, "Rough as ever, now my hair smells like tea…damn that tea was hot."

The dark haired companion sighed, and grabbed two towels which one he gave it to the blonde.

"It's the usual, at least he only threw tea at us this time…we've had worse right? Rather, are you really okay to do this mission? It's _Lucy_ that Jiemma was talking about you know. I honestly don't want to do this mission" He frowned deeper and closed his eyes.

"I know, but we have to do this….I don't want to do this either, she _is_ Lucy after all. At least we haven't been ordered to kill her or something." The blonde grumbled, and his friend nodded his head

Then he called out for his cat, followed by his comrade. "Both of you, we'll be going for a while okay? We already asked Yukino to take care of you two for a while. Be good."

Their cats nodded and meow-ed, purring as they got their ears scratched by them

"Now, to kidnap Lucy Heartfillia from Fairy Tail."

* * *

_A/N; Hehe, my favorite characters showed up in this chapter! Guess who?_

_Hinagiku Zeelmart; Here's an update ^^_

_GoldenRoseTanya; What? Don't DIE! XD_

_xXSnowyHitsugaya; Thanks! Eh? You can't log in with your phone? Is it broken or something? Do you have any computer?_

_Rose Princess; Haha XD I got this idea from Katekyo Hitman Reborn!_

_Louricam; Thanks! But I think that this chapter is better because it's beta-ed!_

_Kuchiki-Rukia Taicho; Glad you think that it's interesting ^^ Sorry~ No NaLu here DX I promise it will come!_

_AnimeAngel808; You'll have to wait for that dear ;)_

_Dog's paw burning in hot ash; Aw, you're making me blush ^/^ Really now? This is my first NaLu fic so I'm not that confident but I'm glad that you like it!_

_FanFiclord123; If you have any questions, feel free to ask me J_

_Blissfulme; Thank you! But if you think that my story is awesomesauce then you're way awesome because you reviewed and stuff! I'm not lying you know ;)_

_Pandachan120; Thx for the review ;) Here's the next chapter!_

* * *

**_THANK YOU FOR READING, FOLLOWING, FAVORITING, AND REVIEWING THIS STORY GUYS!_**

_And review ;)_

_Please check on my other story; Life. I absolutely adore it XD It's because it's about my favorite characters…GUESS WHO IS MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS THAT APPEARED IN THIS CHAPTER! Hehe ;)_

_Also, _**Mariya567 **_is awesome! XD Check on her stories J She's the one that beta-ed this chapter_


	4. Chapter 3

_A/N; Thanks to those who reviewed, followed,and alerted!_

* * *

**Mission 3; Pinky Promise?**

* * *

**Lucy's POV:  
**

As I began to live my life in the noise and craziness that _was_ Fairy Tail, the day had finally come when I could start my first mission. Natsu had said that when he called me to his office. I sat comfortably on his couch, waiting for more information from the pink haired boss I had come to respect. Yes, I had begun to respect him because of the loyalty and devotion I saw that he held towards his comrades, the ones people would normally call their lackeys. I discovered this the time Loke—a flirty, flighty auburn haired young man with glasses—suddenly disappeared from Fairy Tail, on the day he was supposed to return from a mission. Natsu had nearly torn the entire town to pieces to find him, worried that something on his mission had gone awry.

In the end we found him at the grave of Karen Lilica, mourning her death. Karen Lilica was a famous mafiosso, her only weakness being that she never cared for her comrades. Loke had been under for a while but had snapped after being witness to constant abuse of Aries. He'd attacked Karen in a momentary bout of insanity, enraged by what he`d seen her do to the woman. The outcome of the ensuing brawl was a broken arm—her dominant hand to be precise, a horizontal scar on her right cheek, and a sprained ankle with cuts peppered all over her body. Loke was no worse than her though; he'd accumulated a bruised chin and some terrible injuries from his legs to his arms. Even a moth after the attack, Karen had not healed sufficiently enough to go on missions and became virtually penniless as result. Her comrades had abandoned her as everything that had made Karen Lilica a fearsome woman was now gone, having been beaten by her own right hand man. She was in need of money and because of her stubbornness and maybe greediness she had taken a job alone.

She'd died.

Just like that, she was gone. Loke had blamed himself for her death all these years, never able to find solace from the heavy weight of his betrayal of the one he was supposed to call his master. When Fairy Tail had managed to find him, he`d been sitting in front of her tombstone, a bouquet of flowers at his feet and a pistol in his hand, cocked and placed at his chin. Loke was prepared to take his life right there in front of her grave.

That day I had come to respect Natsu Dragneel for the man he was, and not just some moron with the title of _Boss_. As someone who would save their nakama, no matter what the cost. It had taken some jarring words to convince Loke that taking his life was not the answer to atoning for what he believed were his sins. Then again, shocking people was a favorite pastime of Natsu`s so it didn`t really surprised her when he lashed out at Loke.

_"So what?! You're going to just run away like that? Just because your old master died?! You jackass, do you think it's that easy? If you really felt remorse, you wouldn't take the coward's way out! You would live life to the fullest, remembering Karen and realizing that life is short and better spent helping people! Karen knew what she was getting into, she knew that going on a mission in that condition was suicide. In the end, we just have to live the decisions that people make for themselves. She might have made a stupid mistake but that doesn't mean that you should spend your life trying to reverse a death that wasn't your fault to begin with! Do you hear me?! Don't be stupid! You have us beside you, your friends! Friends who are willing to help you no matter what, so when it becomes unbearable just come to us, so don't just die damnit!"_ With that, he had walked forward and smacked the pistol out of his grasp, standing in front of the speechless Loke with a look of fiery anger.

_Friends huh…_

I can't even believe how much I've changed since I came to join this mafia family. I used to believe that friends – no matter who they were- were bound to betray you eventually. But after hearing that idiot's speech my thought about it has changed. I can believe in Fairy Tail—my now family. I believe that they won't betray me..

"Lucy? Lucy. Lucy, did you hear me?" He waved a hand in front of my face and I snapped out from the flashbacks with a start and realized that I was spacing out.

"Oh! Sorry! I got sidetracked for a second." I looked at him apologetically. I saw Wendy with her cat; Charles and Lisanna Strauss—younger sister of Mira-Jane and Elfman Strauss behind me, smiling.

"Wendy, Lisanna…you two are my partners for the mission?" Both of them nodded, Lisanna winking at me before looking back at Natsu.

Lisanna sighed, still with a smile, now a little more teasing. "Natsu, would you mind to repeat our mission? It seems the newbie was a little, _distracted._"

I couldn't help but blush at that, this was so embarrassing! I had never spaced out so thoroughly before.

"Also, I particularly didn't understand either." Lisanna elaborated, sending me another sly wink before sending Natsu an innocent look. I sent her a mini mock glare before returning the wink, grateful that she had decided to save my spacey butt. Oh how I loved this girl.

The pinkette blinked before grinning his usual smile.

"Okay, basically, I want you three...four I guess—"He pointed Acalypha city at the Fiore map "—and see what the hell is going on. Lately, I've been hearing about two guys sabotaging government events there, the annual parade, town hall meeting, even a school festival. I want you three to investigate it and capture them if they do anything sketchy. But remember, they're known to be pretty hard to handle in combat so don't underestimate them just because they don't belong to a mob, I want you to be careful understood?" We nodded in unison. "Good, so pack up, you leave on the 9 AM train tomorrow morning, go incognito; you don't want them to know who you are before you know who _they_ are. Don't get yourself killed, and be careful"

"Jeez, Natsu. Don't worry about us, we'll be _fine_. If you worry that much you'll go old and gray before you know it. Okay, _Ji-chan?_" Lisanna said teasingly, laughing as Natsu sputtered at her. It seemed being his childhood friend came with the benefits of being able to rag on him without sufficient consequences. Apparently, Erza and Gray were part of this childhood crew as well. So many things about the constant brawls here suddenly started to make sense with this knowledge.

"Shaddup you." Natsu yelped, ears going suspiciously red in horrible contrast to his pink hair. "Just go and make sure you guys don't get yourselves killed." The rest of us left his office giggling. A blushing Natsu was a sight to see indeed.

"We'll meet tomorrow at Hargeon Station, 8:00 a.m ok? Don't be late girls!" The youngest Strauss sibling said as we descended the stairs back down to the main hall where most of the mob members hung out during the day.

"Wendy-chan, I'll borrow Lu-chan for a while okay?" The young girl nodded grabbingher cat and skipped off to go find Gajeel Redfox, the man who, although was gruff to everyone else, treated as if she were his own flesh and blood. Lisanna grabbed my hand and lead me out of Headquarters and took me to Magnolia Park just down the block, the city's largest park. We found an isolated bench and sat down with a satisfied sigh, looking at the frolicking life around us in the form of playing children and canoodling couples.

"So…Lisanna, what did you want to talk about?" I wasn't stupid. If the woman had wanted to chat about something benign then we would have grabbed a table in headquarters, but no. Lisanna had deliberately chosen a place where we wouldn't be overheard by anyone we knew. Clearly she wanted to talk about something quite important.

"Lu-chan…do you like Natsu?" I nearly fell out from the bench in shock.

"This question again?! Oh my god, I'm gonna -. Agh, look, I do _not_ like Natsu. I mean, I like him, but not like that. He's just a very good friend and happens to be the person to turn my life around. That's it." Lisanna laughed, like she had been expecting that kind of answer.

"I knew it, you would answer that you don't like him in that way"

"Well, it's the truth!"

Giggling, she grinned at me, both hands up in signs of defeat.

"Okay okay, I got it. I just wanted to tell you that Natsu is a hard working guy, his comrades are everything for him. He will do anything for their sake with little to now thought to what will happen to him in the process."

_That's true…Loke's little escapade had taught me that much._

"When our fourth boss had died, we were scared for what would happen next. Our fourth boss was like a father to us and we didn't know what to do when he died. True that Laxus and Gildarts were there but the both of them were too stubborn. Gildarts didn't want to take his position as the boss while Laxus just didn't feel worthy enough to take his grandfather's position. But Natsu…he...he cheered us up and took us out of our misery with all of us grieving like the world had ended. He told us that our deceased boss wouldn't like it if we moped around like little kids for the rest of our lives. That's what lead to Natsu becoming Fairy Tail's fifth boss."

There wasn't much I could say to a story like that, except: "Wow."

"It's true you know, and that's why….I want to ask you a favour." Lisanna grasped my hands with hers, her expression now serious. I raised an eyebrow, "I have a feeling that you and Natsu will become closer to each other than anyone else in the guild, so, as his friend and family, I want to ask you, please, take care of him. Like I said, he has a tendency to overdo it, and I`m hoping your presence will make him take more care of himself. So please? For me?"

I was touched by Lisanna's level of concern for her friend and smiled at her.

"Of course Lisanna, I'll do my best to make sure that I take of Natsu in the best way I know how. I won't let you down. "

She held out her pinky finger, not looking in the least embarrassed of the childlike ehavior.

"Pinky promise?"

"Ahaha. Of course! Pinky promise!" I linked pinkies with her and we both smiled at each other. Now, not only were we linked by the bonds of comradeship but also by the bonds of a secret pledge of protecting someone precious to us.

That was my first promise to a dear friend; I'm going to treasure it.

* * *

It's now early morning and here I am waiting for my two comrades at Hargeon Station for us to catch the train to Acalypha. I had bought my friend's tickets as well to save us time. I waited for something like 10 minutes before the women in question arrived, waving happily at me, excited as I was to kick some baddie butt.

"Good Morning!" Wendy, the youngest among us, looked perfectly ready for the day, energized and enthusiastic. Lisanna and I smiled at her, returning the greeting and boarded the train, spending the majority of the trip playing card and guessing games. The rest of the time was spent chatting playfully with each other, teasing Wendy about Romeo or sleeping to catch up on sleep before starting the mission. We had no idea what our mission would bring to us and welcomed it with open arms.

But I`m sure you`re all familiar with the saying; _It was the Calm before the Storm_

* * *

_A/N; Isn't this a short little chappie~ ^^" Gomen Gomen! But I promise to you guys that it would be longer in the next chapter! And of course Special thanks to __**Mariya567**__ who beta-ed this chappie! _

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**Dog's paw burning in hot ash**; Your first fanfic was a CLANNAD Xover with Fairy Tail yes? What's CLANNAD if I may ask? I don't really know much animes… XD Thanks!

**Yuni-sama; **He is! ;) With Sting too ^^ Thx for the review!

**Kuchiki Rukia-Taicho; **Her past will be explained in the later chapters! Ohoho, I thought about her past for about 1 week X3

**Louricam The Manga Freak;** Thanks! I'm glad that you like their first debut in this fanfic! I adore those two so much X)

**Blissfulme; **So that means that the previous chapters were great? Yay! Thank you

**KawaiiOdango; **I love the bad ass Lucy as well ;) We're the same~ XD

**Rose Princess; **Course I can make more chapters! As long as you review... :D Next chapter she'll use a gun! Yippie~ Oops, spoiler XD

**FanFiclord123; **Thanks for the advice as usual You like how the Saber tooth guild was introduced as villains? Thanks! I gave the guild as the role of the villain for this arc because in GMG they're the antagonist right now X3 As I said before, I will add some love triangles, character death…I'm not too sure with the bashing too But thank you!

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_Amount of reviews had decreased.. __ Do you guys don't like this story? T_T I'm crying now! PLEASE REVIEW! If not I'm going to cry -_-"_

_Also, a user named __Fanficlord123 __has a story about Fairy Tail and it's most likely a Lucy x OC, check it if you want? It's called 'the mystery wizard' Remember that it's rated M okay? :D For the author I would like to remind that I suggest for you to search for a beta-reader_

_That's all for now! Check on my fanfic; __**Life **__if you want! I would appreciate it~_

_REVIEW! -Titania_


	5. Chapter 4

**Mission 4; Reunion  
**

* * *

**Lucy's POV;**

It was faster than I had expected to be. Our travel to Acalypha through the train went faster than scheduled, which was good. It left us with a little more time to get some background on what the mission was and observe the town as well. Acalypha was a rich town; there were many of beautiful and rare plants as well as lush greenery that perfumed the air within it beautifully. It was full of shops and people milling about, just enjoying the day together. It didn't look like a town that was fearful of an attack by bandits. Even with the rumours that Natsu had heard, two guys were sabotaging this city; culture festivals, school studies, the security of the government and other things and it was our job to try and catch these guys.

The youngest Strauss glanced from shops to shops, sizing up the merchandise and I scolded her lightly,

"Lisanna, can we focus on the mission now? We'll do shopping _after_ we're done with it" Lisanna laughed heartily while slightly tilting her head at me.

"I got it,_Gomen_" She apologized; I nodded my head at her and walked towards a teenage guy wearing a black fedora on his head. And that was the most normal thing on his body.

"Excuse me, Sir. But may I ask you something?" The man raised an eyebrow but agreed anyways, "Is it true that there's interference in the towns public affairs by a pair of 'bandits' for a lack of a better word?"

He blinked several times before answering my question, "Yes, that's true...They're pretty troublesome, even the officers can`t get them also they can't be judged by the law because it seems that those two are doing those kind of things from an order, but even if they are judged, the officers will have a hard time catching them I guess."

"Maybe it's a mission?" Wendy asked without thinking, though it was only heard by us. "Mission….couldn't it be that they're also from a mafia group?"

I though about it, the chances were 40 out of 100, that there was a good possibility that they're from the mafia. See the thing was, in a mob mentality, the rule is as long as we are ordered to do something—even if it's illegal, the one that will take responsibility is the one that gave the order not us. Lisanna's hand found its way to her jaw, rubbing it absentmindedly as she thought.

"That can be true…Mister, if I may ask, have they every left something behind to identify themselves, like an insignia or a name or something?" Lisanna asked, her thumb fiddling with her lips. The man shook his head as we frowned by the lack of information, he studied our faces and put a hand to his jacket pocket, searching for something. He pulled out a black wallet and suddenly showed us an ID card.

"My name is Wally Buchanan , I work in the police in squad A-13-1 which is now currently assigned to investigate that case too. And you three are?" Wally said, tipping his fedora hat, waiting for us to introduce ourselves.

"My name is Wendy Marvell, this is my cat Charles!" She chirped, pointing on her white furred cat. "—the white haired woman beside me is Lisanna Strauss and the blonde is Lucy Heartfillia! We're from the mafia, Fairy Tail. We are sent here to investigate the case, privately of course." Wendy knew that some police members took a sour opinion to the Mafia, but decided to take a chance in coming clean here.

Wally hmm-ed and began dialing someone's number in his Sony Ericson phone, after briefly speaking to someone, he turned to us with a stern expression on as he spoke in an also stern voice. "You three—plus your cat—come with me to the police station, the chief wants to talk to you." Seeing the worry on our faces, his face lost some of its gruffness and he smiled a little. "Don't worry; we don't bite." He said while we pondered our options.

No.1 if we agree to go with him we might get some pretty valuable information on the targets

No.2 if we refuse, we might piss them off and they'll probably hunt us down as suspicious people and if that were to happen, we'd have to defend ourselves and that would alert the bandits to who we are.

…

Any _smart _person would choose number 1

...

Okay, then number 1 it is

* * *

We arrived at the station which was by far the most luxurious one I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot. (Being part of the mafia will do that). The place was quite comfortable to be in; the floors are covered with red carpets with golden trimmings, the walls are decorated with many of beautiful paintings—like Salvador Dali's paintings, Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh and other famous painters all over the world. There's a giant glass chandelier in the center as well, like the ones in the movie you know?

_Whoa…wait, is this even a police station anymore_? I thought wryly, looking around. This looks like a mansion more than the headquarters for the cops. Then again, in this era, the police tend to earn a lot of money.

Wally bowed to us before signalling us to follow behind him upstairs. There we met up with a blue haired shorty with bushy eyebrows, and two girls with dark pink hair; one looks like a total narcissist and while the other one looks normal enough… for now.

"Wally, who the blondie over there and that cat?" The narcissist said, flipping her hair over her shoulders. The tone that she used on Charles felt more like an _ew what an anima_l than a tone of curiosity which made Charle hiss at her.

Said man bowed his head while answering the woman's question, "Lucy—the blondie you said just now is one of the people I told Lyon-sama about" The shorty nodded.

"Very well then, my name is Yuka Suzuki." The normal one said.

"Sherry Blendy is the name…Blondie. And remember that love conquers all!" The narcissist said, making a heart sign with her fingers, her tone condescending. I sighed inwardly at the action. _Great, another idiot._

The last person to introduce herself is the other pinky, "Come one Chelia, introduce yourself" Yuka scolded her lightly. 'Chelia' shyly nodded and her lips formed into a nervous smile, looking more at Wendy than anyone else.

"My name's Chelia, nice to meet you!" All of the sudden I felt that this girl and Wendy are going to get along just fine. We girls then introduced our selves as we walked to the office. Once we arrived at the office, Wally opened to door and called in.

"Lyon-sama, I have arrived with the Fairy Tail members"

A man with white hair, bangs parted to the right, sat on the chair with his finger tips joined together. A smirk plastered on his face,

"Good, then let's begin with names first"

He said, pointing at the three of us. "My name is Lyon Bastia, the Chief of Lamia Scale" I knew why he seemed familiar now, Lamia Scale was the name of the police force in Fiore.

"My name is-" I started, but stopped as I saw his hand waving at me, brushing my introduction aside.

"You don't need to tell me your name, I already know you."

"Excuse me?"

Lisanna answered my question for me

"Lu-chan, we know these people! You don't because you weren't a member of the mafia yet. We've known each other for about…5 years now."

I suddenly realized that I didn't know much about Fairy Tail and resolved to fix that later …Sighing, I rolled my eyes.

"Anyway Lyon, it's great to know that you're the head now!" Lisanna said, smiling at the man.

Lyon grinned slightly at the youngest Strauss's statement, "Well, Jura-san retired a month ago and I was chosen as the next head...Anyway, let's get into business."

"Aw, Lyon, don't you want to know how's Juvia doing?" Lisanna pouted, I could tell she enjoyed teasing him about her though I didn't know why.

Seemingly, catching his interest, he looked up with stars on his eyes. "….Fine, Is she doing okay?"

"Yes, but her obsession with Gray is still there though…Don't get discouraged Lyon! I know you're a great guy!" Lisanna said sweetly. Ahh. I see now. I thought amusedly. Looks like the boss man had a crush on the blue haired woman.

"Uh-huh…yeah, thanks for the compliment." A heavy sigh escaped from his lips, he ruffled his hair. "Well, as long as she's okay, I'm happy. Now about the case; Yesterday they destroyed the famous restaurant in Acalypha town, then the stadium. Previous week they defaced the park, mall, studio, etc. They didn't leave any clues on who they are to my disappointment—" He said while checking the documents on the table in front him. I was guessing they would be crime scene reports. "—But it's a high possibility that they're from the mafia as well, I received an eyewitnness report from a bystander and he said that it was two males, one with a dark hair and crimson snake-like eyes and the other one with dirty colored blonde hair and dark blue eyes with a scar above his left one."

"We investigated the whole mafia in Fiore and found one mafia that matched with those two, and the mafia organization's name is—"

The door banged open and revealed a harried looking Yuka, he took a long breath then exhaled his breath, he did that for a few seconds and then he regained his composure. "Lyon-sama! It's happening again! Those bastards are at it and this time they're trying to take down the planetarium. We're holding them off for as long as we can but we need you there to organize."

* * *

I panted, still running to the planetarium—where the two mafiosso are currently being stopped by cops. "We have to hurry!" I said, Lisanna and Wendy nodded in unison with serious faces and speed up."If we lose them, we won't know when their next attack will be." Finally arriving at the planetarium, we breathed deeply before yelling at the criminals.

"Oi! You two, stop right there!"

"Technically…we've already stopped. Now would all of you cops blocking the way move, if you don't want to get hurt, you'd better get the hell out of the way or I won't hesitate to take you down with everything else!" A blonde swore, making my eyes twitch. Who does this guy think he is?

"Don't do anything! I'm arresting you for blatant destruction of the town's property!" The two looked over in my direction for the first time, zeroing in on my voice.

"Uh huh…wait a minute…You look familiar somewhere" Blinking, I examined the two males as they stared at me.

One had dark inky black hair ending at his neck, bangs properly covering his right eye. He was a slim young man and I had to admit, he was rather attractive. He wore a white shirt tucked to his black jeans, a red tie on his collar, and a black coat. He looked like an organized, and serious person. His blood red eyes pierced into my dark brown ones.

The other one's appearance is almost the exact opposite of the dark haired man and my first impression of him was justifiably different. He looked wild, with an arrogant expression perpetually plastered on his face. Clearly he has a cocky side. He's almost like Natsu's except that his hair was blonde, not pink, however, the hairstyle is almost the same and while Natsu's scar is located at his neck, this man's was located on his forehead. His clothes were the same as the man beside him, only the color of the tie was different (which was dark blue), and also his shirt is un-tucked and two of his shirt buttons were undone giving him rather wild appearance.

I froze as I recognized the two immediately, and judging by their expressions, I guess that they recognized me. I couldn't believe it!

"Sting?! Rogue?! What the hell are you doing?!"

* * *

_A/N; Sorry for the late update! Was busy with exams and the same for my beta reader! I won't answer the reviews in this chapter! Sorry! I'm in a hurry now!_

**Louricam The Manga Freak asked me the ages of the characters, here it is;**_  
_

****-Lucy Heartfillia; 21

-Natsu Dragneel; 22

-Erza Scarlet; 25

-Gray Fullbuster; 22

-Juvia Loxar; 20

-Wendy Marvell; 16

-Mirajane Strauss; 26

-Elfman Strauss; 23

-Lisanna Strauss; 21

-Rogue Cheney; 20

-Sting Eucliffe; 20

-Levy McGarden; 21

-Lyon Bastia; 23

-Sherry Blendy; 20

-Yuka Suzuki; 21

-Chelia Blendy; 16

-Jiemma; 50-55

-Makarov (deceased); 60

-Loke; 22

-Karen (deceased); 19

-Aries; 19

-Wally Buchanan; 18

_I'll add the other ages of characters if they showed up! This is all the characters that had showed up...right?_

_And also, I have 2 upcoming stories that I don't know will publish or not. It's an AU and Gray x Juvia x Lyon then there's Jellal x Erza x Siegrain  
_

_Summary for Gray x Juvia x Lyon (Code;Magic Online); **In the game Code; Magic Online, Juvia is very fond of two players there. 2 years staying at England, her father then changed jobs again and made her transfer to Japan and attends Fiore Academy-where the two players and other players that she knows studies there. (Summary is still not complete yet!)**  
_

_Summary for Erza x Jellal x Siegrain (Letters to a Prisoner); **Erza has an essay to write about the news. She decided on a certain murder case in New York that happened two years ago. The murderer is still in prison and she has an idea to complete her essay. Yes, write the murderer a letter about his life and the case. It will be easy, her father is a police officer! (Summary still not complete yet!)**  
_

_What do you say? Shall I write those stories or not?  
_

_And if someone wants to make me a cover for this story then I will be very happy!  
_

_Tell me your thoughts for this chapter please!  
_


	6. Chapter 5

_Edit; 14th December 2012  
_

* * *

**Mission 5; Success**

* * *

**Lucy's POV;**

_I honestly can't believe it. Here I am, with my gun ready to do some serious damage to the idiots destroying the peace in this town and it turns out to be my friends?! Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney. I haven't seen either of them in like 3 years._

Sting was the first to break the silence,

"Lucy? Long time no see!" His lips curled into a smirk, an arrogant one. "What a way to show up? Did you miss me or something?"_Still the same old Sting,_ I thought, rolling my eyes.

I gave him a nasty glare,"Uh huh, long time no see. And no, I didn't miss you and _never_ will." He faked a pout. "—either way, what are you two _doing_? Why are you doing this? What's the point? And if you tell me it's to rule I swear I'll punch you so hard you'll see stars."

Rogue chuckled behind his cold mask, his eyes piercing into mine.

"_Rule it?_ Please, why would we get involved in something that tedious?"

He took a glance at his comrade who nodded lightly,

"We were sent here for a mission, and we're doing our job. That's all."

"What kind of mission that needs to destroy the peace of such a small town?!" Lisanna exclaimed. She turned her head towards me, "Lu-chan! Who are these people?"

"We're her…_friends._" A gun shot rang out, belonging to the boss of Lamia Scale, Lyon Bastia, just slightly missing Sting's face and grazing his hair instead.

"I'm going to ask you once to surrender and tell me who ordered these attacks. Do not move or I will pull the trigger?" The boss angrily demanded to the both of them.

I saw Sting's fingers twitch, heading for his own gun, my eyes widened immediately and shouted a warning to Lyon.

"Lyon! Watch out—!"

Turns out that I was half wrong. Sting _did_ reach out for his gun; though he didn't shoot where I thought he would. I thought he would shoot the chief or his deputies. But no.

He shot at me.

Thankfully, as a result of my trained reflexes, I was able to dodge the bullet. Strands of my blonde hair were cut and my cheek is bled due to the bullet, clearly I didn't dodge fast enough to spare my cheek.

Sting spoke, "Lucy, we're may have _been _friends but…right now we _aren't_. We belong to a _different _mafia family and with _different _mission. Do you know what happens when members of two different guilds show up and have different missions?"

"That makes us your enemies for the moment. Didn't your boss ever tell you to never let your guard down?" Rogue continued in his infuriating superior tone of voice. His hand began inching to his waist, and I immediately stood, tense, waiting for whatever stunt he was going to pull. Then, without me noticing, he materialized behind Lisanna and pulled the trigger, almost getting her though she was fast in her own way enabling her quick evasion, the bullet lodging itself in a cement wall instead.

_How did he get there so fast?!_

Lisanna pulled out her throwing knives and aimed at Sting, he dodged that thinking he had successfully evaded assault when Lisanna made a pulling motion with her hands and suddenly, the knives came rushing back in the opposite direction and nicked his sleeves. Sting brushed the dust from his shirt, throwing a lazy smirk to the silver haired woman who was unimpressed with the man before her.

"A knife with strings attached to them huh? Quite a _sneaky _lady you are" Lisanna quickly moved her hands, surrounding him with her knives.

"You`re trapped within these knifes and strings, if you move an inch and I won't hesitate to pull back the knifes, I swear it. Surrender now, you two." She demanded, glancing at Wendy, she shouted. "Wendy, now!"

"_Hai!_" Wendy pulled her arrow and released an arrow in Sting's direction. The arrow suddenly began to change shapes until it had the shape of an arrow with blue wings. It landed on the ground and there was a large whirlwind, "Kyaa!" Wendy's voice rang out, and I quickly turned to her direction.

"Wendy!"

Sting smirked smugly, "Never let your guard down right?" Wendy had been immobilized by a stun gun that Sting was now twirling lightly in his fingers.

"1 down, two more to go" Lyon winced

"Forgetting about the cops, Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney?" He snapped

Sting just widened his smirk, "What cops exactly?"

Lyon looked around and found that all of his men were down for the the wreckage stood Rogue sheathing his katana.

"H-how?!" Lisanna breathed, "I was certain that he was by Sting's side a second ago but…"

"But you didn't see me move, right?" Rogue said unimpressed with our deduction skills, as I stared wide eyed at him when he suddenly disappeared from my vision like a blur and re appeared in front of Lyon who suddenly collapsed. "It's…because I'm a _Shadow, remember?"_

"When the little girl had pulled that arrow, and pointed towards us. There's a large whirlwind yes? Sting used that as an advantage to use his speed and appeared behind her while I used my technique and wiped out all of the cops without any of you even noticing."

I quickly fired a shot at him, which failed terribly because he disappeared again. I grabbed my whip from my belt and launched it at Sting, with a bullet heading towards him as Lisanna threw her knifes again. He grabbed a nearby steel rod and blocked the bullet with it with also blocking the knifes. Rogue unsheathed his katana and cut the strings, grabbing the whip with his free hand.

_Impossible, they…how can they do that? So fast…_

I released my hold on the whip and pulled out a second gun, pointing both of my guns at them; I pulled the trigger repeatedly even as they blocked it with their insane speed. I expected Rogue to disappear again but instead Sting was the one to disappear, and Rogue, he didn't disappear, he merely ran faster than any human could hope to Lisanna, ready for attack. I managed to get a solid aim at Sting and hit his shoulder, causing a fair amount of bleeding. He turned to me, his movemts not affected by the wound.

"Huh, seems like you _can_ follow my speed huh? Well then nowhere to go but up, right?"

_My eyes can't see him anywhere! It's like he's running at the speed of light or something!_

The next thing I knew, Lisanna was hit by the stun gun as well and collapsed, leaving me as the only thing that stood between them and their destruction.

"Lisanna!" I yelled desperately.

Sting smirked, "Two down, now Rogue, let's do what we came here to do. _Capture the girl."_

_Capture me?!_I shouted in my head, shocked at the revelation, _did that mean that everything they had done was to capture me?_ Never mind that! _I have to incapacitate them first!_ So I ran away from the site, while shooting at them, and when I ran out of bullets, I grabbed a cops' pistol from the ground and used it a few times, when _it_ ran out of bullets I changed pistols again. This time, I managed to locate a saber at Lyon's waist and pulled it out,_Thank God for lessons that __**he **__had taught to me._I grimaced at the thought of my father. Though I absolutely despise him, for now, I'll be grateful to him for teaching me the way of the swords.

"A Saber? Do you think that you can fight using _that_ and defeat me, Lucy? Are you underestimating me or what?" The dark haired male snapped, glaring at me. I flinched at the tone he used and the glare, we had been friends for a long time and I had never been on the receiving end of that glare. "I _hate_ being underestimated you know"

Those red eyes glowed with evil, those red eyes that were similar to the devil himself are glaring at me.

I was starting to feel scared now but steeled my resolve. _No! I can't wimp out! I'm a member of Fairy Tail! I will take them out or go down trying!_

Regardless of my fear, I charged Rogue who met me mid way. Our swords clashed, and I felt a sudden memory come to the forefront of my mind.

"_**Worthless, I admit your bravery to use swords to me; however you still fail to amuse me. Now I shall take you away from that worthless mafia family, Fairy Tail right now" Tears were threatening to spill from my eyes**_**.**_**I can't move, I can't move from that place, nor move my fingers. I was filled with fear, the child that I had once been watch helplessly as I was taken away and I blacked out, hearing the last words from my friend shouting my name with worry. **_

_**"LUCY!"**_

I felt a sudden nausea, dizziness corrupting me. _That memory…_

Rogue took this as his chance and hit me in the stomach with the hilt of the sword. I grunted with pain, as I fell into a black void of consciousness I was dimly aware of my memories slowly receding.

The last words I heard before blacking out were so clear that it frightened me, I just prayed for the safety of the friends I could remember only faintly at this point.

"Our mission is successful, let's bring her back to base."

* * *

**Third Person's POV, Fairy Tail HQ**

Natsu immediately rose from his seat. Seeing the door of his HQ opened to reveal two women in bad shape was not a sight he liked to see, he helped them into chairs noting that the injuried must have hurt judging from the way the two were gingerly moving.

"Alzack, Bisca, I want you to get Porlyusica right now" Natsu ordered, the couple nodded their heads and left the room to call the healing lady. "Levy, grab some water for Wendy and Lisanna" Levy nodded and raced off.

They drank it and wiped their mouths before speaking, breathing heavily before speaking.

"N-Natsu-san…" Wendy said. Natsu nodded, telling Wendy to continue. "L-Lucy-san…"

"Lucy's..?"

"Lucy's been kidnapped!" Lisanna finished, clenching her fist and pounding it into a table in frustration. "When we fought the guys that had been sabotaging the town, they _annihilated_ us and took Lucy with them!" Tears welled up into her eyes. "I-I failed to protect her _again_! It's my entire fault…"

Wendy looked up, "Protect her.._again?"_ She looked around at the mafia members who looked frustrated as well, muttering to themselves.

Erza nodded, "Wendy, before you came to Fairy Tail, Lucy used to be a member of us. However, when the inter mafia war began she was taken away…when she had returned here to do her mission, which was to kill Natsu, we realized that she had amnesia, and somehow managed to convince her to join again."

"T-that can't be possible…"

Natsu hit the table with his fist, gritting his teeth. "All of you! Prepare yourselves; we're going to bring back Lucy back! This is WAR!"

The rest of the members roared their agreement and rushed away to prepare themselves.

The pinkette glared at the wall furiously, refraining from hitting it, he had never been this angry before. Those men were going to regret taking Lucy from him. Even though they aren't the same people but still, taking Lucy away isn't forgivable

_I will protect you this time, Lucy! I won't let the same thing happen again! I'll save you!  
_

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_Reviews;_

**AnimeAngel808: **I'll try to update fast okay? ^^ But sometimes it depends on my beta-reader, like this chapter, she was busy so she didn't beta-ed this :D But she'll send me the edited version later and I'll replace it with this chapter ^_^ I just can't wait to see you guys reaction so I updated this without being beta-ed lol XD Here is what happen! DO you like it? Hope you do!

**Yuni-sama: **Yeah.. XD I'm a fan to Rogue so..yeah X3 Besides, he's also the main chara in this fic! Yippie~

**GoldenRoseTanya: **Oh, okay ^_^ I get it! Although I was a bit sad that you didn't reviewed but oh well! Other people didn't reviewed a lot so I guess that it's okay if you can't! Thanks for still reading this! :D

**Chistralish; **Gomen ne! For such a late update Hehe, what do you think 'bout this chappie? X) And thanks!

**Rose Princess: **Gomen! I kind of forgot.. DX Here! She uses gun, whip in this chapter! Hope you like it! And of course I'll make more chapters ;)

**Sereneskydragonslayer: **Girl, I love you for always reviewing! :D

**Minallys: **Tehe! I hope your tablet will be fixed as soon as it can! ^_^ I can't wait to see your amazing drawing!

* * *

_A/N: I wonder where are Louricam the Manga Freak, KawaiiOdango, Kuchiki Rukia-Taicho, AznMelody5678, pokelovber0ash, Pandachan 120, dog's paw burning in hot ash, and FanFiclord123? I miss them already! _

_So this chapter is now edited! :D Thanks to Mariya567 as always!  
_

_If you want, check on my new fanfic? It's the Jellal x Erza x Siegrain that I mentioned in the last chapter! It's called __**Letters to a Prisoner**__ :3 The LyViaGra (weird, I just came up with it lol) is currently in progress of writing ^_^_

_Please review too! Because reviews motivates me to write faster.. _

_P.S; I just saw my story views and saw that Life is the most highest one... ^_^ Maybe because it's pure CRACK? Oddly enough is that there's a lot of views in that fic and the favorites, alerts, and reviews are really low.. :(  
_


	7. Chapter 6

**Mission 6; Jude Heartfillia**

* * *

**Third Person's POV;**

The blonde haired mafiosso carried Lucy Heartfillia, slung over his shoulder, to the black CR-V car and threw in the back seat. Sting settled himself in the front seat and belted himself in as Rogue turned on the ignition. They didn't even bat an eye to the destruction they had left behind. Even from the car, you could see the sprawled figures of Lisanna, Wendy and Lyon unmoving on the ground. Rogue buckled his seatbelt and asked Sting

"Buckled your seatbelt yet?" Sting nodded, resting his chin on his hand and relaxed.

"Well, our mission is done; all that's left is to wait for further instructions from the client. Sting, go call him so that he knows we're done."

Sting Eucliffe nodded, fingers typing Jude Heartfillia's number on his phone.

"This is Sting Eucliffe from Saber Tooth speaking, is this Jude Heartfillia?"

_"…Yes it is, was your mission a success?"_

He nodded though he knew there was no way the man could see it,

"Yes it was, shall I bring her to you?"

"_As soon as possible."_

"Got it."

He hung up, eyes traveling to the unconscious figure of the blonde, sighing slightly; he moved his hands to his head.

"After 3 years not meeting her—after she ran away from home—our reunion just _had_ to be like this!" Sting nagged, "I mean, what kind of reunion _is_ this?"

Rogue glanced at him, a sigh escaping his lips.

"I know, but it's an order after all. Orders are absolute and you know there's nothing we can do about it." The dark haired male made a U-turn, "Besides, I never thought the whole running away thing from home was a good idea, even back then. I didn't object that time, because it was her choice after all. Unless she's in real danger, who am I to butt in?"

"But I wonder, why Jude-san ordered us to capture her specifically_ after_ 3 years had since she ran away!" Rogue shrugged his shoulders non-committally. Sting continued, "I still remember the day she ran away. She was surprisingly upset."

* * *

_Lucy Heartfillia packed her things in her bag; shampoo, books, soap, phone, clothes, et cetera. Her eyes scanned her packed belongings and smiled in victory. "This is all of it! Tch, that damn old man is really starting to piss me off! I can't live with him anymore, who cares if he starts looking for me? I`ll escape! No matter how many times I have to, I'll run away from him."_

"_Wow, you're really mad, O great Lucy Heartfillia-hime" Sting said sarcastically from the tree branch. Lucy jumped surprised, turned and sighed irately, opening the window. Sting and Rogue made their way into her room through the window. It was a common enough occurrence for her to be both annoyed and used to it._

_Her fist made solid contact with both of their heads, _

"_Ouch!"_

_"Next time, enter normally from the door would you?"_

"_Sorry Lucy, but both Sting and I agree that it's no fun if we enter from the door. Besides, seeing you all mad is pretty fun." Rogue said chuckling, hiding his smile for fear of being smacked again._

_"You aren't going to throw something at us again are you? Last time you did, Sting and I were out for a week!"_

_The blonde woman rolled her eyes, held her hands up in a sign of surrender. _

_"I got it, I got it. I won't hit you guys or anything. Besides, it's a lost cause, trying to make you normal. What are you two doing here anyways?"_

"_Glad you asked princess. We wanted to see Daddy's little girl finally make a break for it."Sting grinned at her._

"_In other words; we were just bored at home and decided to go to your place." Rogue laughed, "So, it was mostly boredom. We heard you fighting with your dad. You must be pretty pissed off to run away. Good luck with that by the way." The way Rogue said it made it seem as if it were a very normal thing to do given the circumstances. _

_Lucy blinked at them, surprised by their calm demeanor. _

_"You guys aren't going to stop me?" She asked, looking almost afraid, as if they would suddenly change their minds and tie her to her bed post._

_Sting had to laugh at this; "Stop you? Hell no, what would be the fun in that princess? Besides, something tells me this is the right thing to do. For you at least. We believe in you, I'm positive you'll find your true place in the world."_

_A small and kind smile graced her face. _

_"Well then, if you believe in me that much, why don't you help me to get out of here?" Sting and Rogue looked at each other for a moment, then shrugged, after all, what did they have to lose?_

"_Sure, why not?"_

* * *

Rogue turned on his radio and almost immediately, Sting's favorite rock music filled the car. "Amazing, isn't it? She managed to escape her home pretty much because we were bored." Rogue mused aloud. Sting shrugged, yawning.

"Wake me up when we reach the Heartfillia Konzern will you? I didn't get any sleep yesterday" His eyes fluttered closed, somehow letting the harsh music lull him to sleep.

Rogue nodded his head though Sting was already asleep.

* * *

Her eyes cracked open, a groan escaping from her lips as she tried to process what had happened. Lucy tried to move her arms but found that she was unable to move them, when she managed to open her eyes wide enough to actually see, she saw that her wrists were handcuffed behind her back. She hardened her gaze while narrowing her eyebrows, she had clearly been transported somewhere against her will. Taking a good look at the place, she gasped as memory began to return.

Almost all of the things in the room were grey, or black, she noted, whoever the interior designer was, he was clearly depressed. The walls were covered in scribbles in words that meant nothing, like gibberish, and a fairly large spider's nest hung up in the corner of the room. She could see blood in the far corner of the room, the amount of blood told her that the victim was probably not human, maybe a mouse? At least, it's not human, she thought, grimacing at the sight, the door in front of her began to open, Lucy glared at it.

"Oya, oya. It seems that you're awake now, Miss Lucy Heartfillia" A lean man with long blonde hair ending at his waist, tied into a low ponytail, said, entering the room like he owned the place. He wore a red eye mask and a matching red hat with white feather plume on it. His white shirt was tucked in under a red vest—cape like shirt, with black trousers and brown boots to complete the ensemble.

_Looks like this one took one too many trips to the circus,_ She thought sardonically, glancing at his clothes. The man cocked his head at her and continued in a low voice.

"Pardon me, my name is Rufus Lohr. You may call me Rufus, if you like. I was sent here with other people from Saber Tooth to the Heartfillia Konzern under the name Jiemma" He said, Lucy said nothing, if he was from Saber Tooth, he would keep talking whether she gave her permission or not. "Well, Saber Tooth was given a mission from Jude Heartfillia—"

"Damnit!" Lucy interrupted, scowling now as she realized what was really going on.

Rufus coughed irately. "Lucy, I'm going to ask only once that you not interfere when I am speaking. As I was saying, we were given a mission from Jude Heartfillia to kidnap you. Seeing that you are now awake, why don't we go meet my employer, hmm? But first, we need to clean you up, can't have you appearing in front of him in such vulgar clothes, can we? Yukino, guide her to the changing room"

A woman with short, light blue hair entered the room with a calm expression on as she nodded and bowed her head. "I understand, Rufus-sama." Rufus nodded acknowledging on her, "Lucy-sama, allow me to assist you."

The _last_ thing Lucy wanted to do, was to go all dressed up in front of her father, on the other hand, she understood her situation all too well. She was in position to be making demands or refusing them. This was Saber Tooth after all, and it was well known that they didn`t hesitative to use ulterior methods to get things done. Even if people had to get hurt, they were the number one mafia in world for a reason.

The blonde cursed and let herself be led away.

* * *

Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney stood, waiting for Lucy to make her appearance in Jude's room—or rather, _office_. They had been called in despite their payment having already been taken care of the day before. _So what possible reason could the man have for summoning us like this_? Rogue wondered, and guessed that the reason would revealed when the blonde arrived.

After ten minutes of waiting, Lucy finally entered the room wearing a gown in a dark shade of pink, the sleeves were long and billowed to the floor, and the hem of the skirt was designed with a pattern of small delicate white flowers. Her blonde hair that had been in pigtails before were now put up in a curly bun, her bangs curled in front slightly. Above her right ear, there was a crimson colored hair ornament in the shape of a rose. Under her dress, she wore white stockings that peeped through under the hem slightly and enhanced the look of the red heels she wore.

Sting and Rogue scoffed at all the make-up she wore, knowing full well how much Lucy hated all this coquetry and face painting. Her eyelashes were now darker and longer, cheeks a lightly blushed and her lips a dangerously seductive pink in color.

Clearing his throat, Jude ended the stifling silence between the four of them.

"It's been a long time, Lucy"

Lucy bit her lip, contemplating her words, she settled for "…It has, Father."

She hated being so subservient in front of her father but she had no choice. She was completely outnumbered, and as one woman, she had virtually no chance of escaping, weak as she was from a lack of eating. Not to mention she was up against two of the strongest members of Saber tooth.

"Lucy you've run for long enough, and I've been indulgent of you, now it is time you did your duty to the Heartfilia family…." Lucy gulped, having a vague idea where this one sided conversation was going.

"I have ordered you back here so that I can re-arrange your marriage with Sting Eucliffe, your former fiancé."

* * *

_A/N; Cliffhanger right? X3_

_I hope you guys enjoyed this (short) chapter! And as always, thanks to __**Mariya567 **__for beta-ing! I was honestly surprised seeing the next day I sent her the chapter, it's already done! Thank you very much!_

* * *

_Replies;_

**Dog's paw burning in hot ash; **:D At first, I was really nervous about the story plot because it's kind of..unique? I don't know XD But seeing as people started to like it, now I'm not that nervous anymore! Thanks. Oh, and CLANNAD really made me cry T~T

**Kuchiki Rukia-Taicho; **Aw~ Thanks for your sweet review though! I understand if you forgot because I often do that =w= Yes! Lucy got kidnapped and lol XD Poor Natsu Should I make a chapter where Natsu have to ride a train for saving Lucy and he got motion sickness but won't give up? That would be sweet ^^

**Sereneskydragonslayer; **As always, I thank you for always reviewing in my stories! Yup, Lucy joined Fairy Tail before, and when she was 'taken away' she got amnesia XD But I'm telling you something, the one who took her away isn't Saber Tooth! (hehe)

**AnimeAngel808; **This is what happens next… XD Quite a cliffy right?

**GoldenRoseTanya; **Like I said, of course I forgive you as long as you still read this story ^^ and congratulations! You're my 50th reviewer :D

**AznMelody5678; **Is that so? I'm so sorry for taking your time! DX Two weeks ago, I also had my exam so..I understand! And the results are very satisfying.. I'm rank 2 in my class! ^_^

**KawaiiOdango; **Yay! You're here XD here's an update! I hope I wrote fast enough!

**Minallys; **Uwah~ Thanks! So you expected an awesome chapter and you got your wish! Lol XD Okay, I'll wait for your tablet to be fix :D I'm sure that the result will be awesome

**Rose Princess;** I laughed at your review *_* So you like when Lucy uses guns huh? And thank you to you too!

**Chistralish; **Yup! Well~ I'm glad that this chapter revealed a lot without being random! Thank you!

* * *

_A/N; Phew! Reviews really satisfies me :D So continue reviewing! ^_^_

_Wow! This fanfic reached 53 reviews, 25 favorites, and 35 follows! ;A; I'm crying due to happiness now! Thank you for your supports guys! I honestly can't believe this! Is this a dream?!_

_Oh yeah, judging by that amount of people favoriting and following, and viewers that I saw, there's a lot of it! But I only received about 5-10 reviews per chapter! __ Come on guys! Show me your love~ jk_

_P.S; Should I write in Third Person POV or First Person POV? This will affect my writing style so tell me your answer, ne?  
_


	8. Chapter 7

**Mission 7; Fiancés and Trains**

* * *

**Third Person's POV;**

It all went downhill from there. Rogue didn't dare say a word, neither did Sting, both in a state of shock, it hadn't even crossed their minds. Lucy despite figuring that his summons would be something of that nature, was still taken slightly aback, she hadn't thought he would use Sting of all people to trap her.

Jude cleared his throat, still expression stern, and _still_ ignoring their blatant looks of surprise.

"Am I clear?"

Sting's eye twitched, he did _not_ appreciate his life being dictated for him and before he could stop himself, he ended up shouting his protests.

"Clear my ass!Why do I have to marry _her_?! I don't even like her in the first place!"

Lucy nodded, "I can't believe I'm saying this but, for once, Sting is right. Ever since we met Father, we've only ever seen each other as siblings, and being engaged to each was something forced on us! Sorry, but I won't marry him." Lucy crossed her arms over her admittedly frilly dress and looked defiantly at her father.

"_You don't have a choice!"_Jude's voice rang throughout the room, effectively silencing any further objections they may have had. "Enough is enough! You two _will_ be married two days from now! No objections! This is to ensure a successor to the Heartfillia and the Eucliffe family! It's for our sake and the sake of the country, try to understand, both of you." His gaze hardened, and looked at Rogue who uncomfortably held the older man's gaze, "All of the Saber Tooth mafiossos will be there to prevent any _disturbances_. Rogue, I'm counting on you as their temporary leader here."

_I don't want to though..._Rogue thought bitterly._The people that are getting married don't even love each other! If there's a disturbance, it would be them right? Besides, my mission is done, can't I go home already?_

"You are dismissed!" Jude turned his back on them, signifying the end of the discussion.

Both of the victims of the forced marriage scowled as the dark haired male bowed his head lowly and leave with them without a sound. Rogue sighed internally, if they did not want to be married to each other, surely, they could just marry other people, that way the Heartfilia and Eucliffe families would still have heirs and both would be married to the ones they love.

Couldn't they just stay friends?

* * *

"_Lucy, I want you to meet Sting Eucliffe and his friend, Rogue Cheney" Jude informed the seven year old girl who was staring at the two seven year old males, unimpressed._

_Her eyes narrowed as she frowned deeply, _

_"Nice to meet you" She said, voice dripping with sarcasm, earning herself a warning glance from her father. _

_"Fine" She corrected herself, and curtsied to them. _

_"Nice to meet you, I'm Lucy Heartfillia, daughter of Jude Heartfillia" Forcing a smile, she bowed her head in accordance to her father's preferred method of greeting._

_When the boys said nothing, Lucy looked up and found to her displeasure that both boys were trying very hard not to laugh aloud at her. Clearly she still had to work on her smile._

"_I'm Sting Eucliffe, nice to meet you __**Luigi.**__" He joked. Lucy restrained herself from smacking the blonde boy. With a bat. A metal one._

_Rogue, being the more composed of the two, said. "My name is Rogue Cheney, you may call me Rogue."_

_Jude nodded at them, getting ready to leave the children to their own devices. _

"_Now play nicely together, all of you. The grown up will be talking in the library if you need anything."_

_As soon as the elder man left the room, Sting and Rogue made themselves comfortable on the large red chaise near the window._

_"I see you've been whipped to follow the rules too huh Luigi?"_

_Lucy raised an eyebrow at his language and nodded irately._

_"First, it's Lucy, not Luigi, __**Stink**__. And yes, I do have to follow the rules in order to succeed the Heartfillia name with honor." She said somewhat pompously. _

"_What's with the Stink, part?" Sting asked, somewhat offended._

"_It's your name, since you seem to insist on calling me Luigi, __**I**__ shall call you Stink." Lucy said, proud of her ability to exact revenge. The name was clever, even if she did say so herself._

_Rogue chuckled, amused, Sting had clearly met his match in the little girl. Sting blushed in embarrassment._

_"Don't' call me that!"_

"_Okay. How do you like Stinky Blonde Boy?" Lucy said, a mischievous grin adorning her features._

"_That's even worse! And you're blonde too, Luigi. You're like the stupid man from that game! Stupid! Stupid!" Sting retorted, incensed._

_She shook her head, "Does that even matter? Moreover, if I am Luigi, then who's Mario? Must be you, because you're __**fat**__!"_

_Sting looked so insulted that Rogue accidentally let out a laugh in surprise._

"_I am not!"_

"_Are too."_

"_Am not!"_

"_Are too."_

_Rogue sighed, sipping his tea with silence, watching the two continue their argument of: 'Am not'/'Are too'_

"_Am not!"_

"_Are too."_

"_Am not!"_

"_Am not." Lucy repeated, smirking, this was too easy._

"_Are too!"_

_Hearing the last bit, Rogue calmly interrupted, "Alright, Alright. Game over, Sting. You just said 'Are too.'"_

_With his cheeks pink, he pointed an accusing finger at Lucy who smiled satisfied with herself in victory. _

_"She tricked me!"_

"_I didn't cheat Stinky, you just didn't pay attention. Can't blame that one on me."_

_Lucy said laughing, twirling a chess piece. Rogue turned to her, surprised._

"_You play chess?" He asked, knowing that it was usually a game played by men to showcase their cleverness._

_Lucy nodded, smiling. _

_"Yup, want to play?" Rogue silently seated himself across from the blonde haired girl, picking up a black piece and setting it back down on the board. _

_"So you wanna be the black one huh? It kinda fits I guess." Lucy said, sitting down opposite him, Sting lurking behind her, still upset from his loss at the hands of a girl._

_It wasn't a random guess, Rogue was wearing enough black to look like he had joined a club of vampires or something. He chuckled, liking that the girl was observant of her surroundings though this one was a bit of an easy throw._

_"Well yes, as a matter of fact, my favorite color is black, but crimson is a definite second."_

"_Mine is white, then followed by dark blue!" Sting piped up from behind them. Lucy rolled her eyes, winking at Rogue first when Sting couldn't see._

"_Who asked you Stinky?" Sting twitched but kept silent. "Good boy, see? You're not __**that**__ stupid, you're learning." Sting growled at her._

"_Well, what's yours?!" The blonde said nothing as she watched Rogue move his first piece._

"…_..Pink." She said a little quieter and blushed, moving her own._

_Sting laughed, as did Rogue though he tried his best to hide it. Lucy pouted, throwing a pillow at the raven haired boy._

_"As far as I can remember! A year ago, I had amnesia, so stop laughing you jerks!"_

_Rogue stopped laughing and regarded the girl with mild surprise, still playing. _

_"Ho~ you had amnesia? That's quite interesting, Lucy."_

_The young girl nodded, scratching her head. "Well yeah…hey! When did you—"_

"_Check mate, Lucy" He smirked, placing his final piece down, and beating her in less than 6 moves._

_Lucy groaned, "I have a feeling that no matter how many times I challenge you to play, I'll definitely lose" Sighing, she put away her chess pieces, smiling at him good naturedly._

"_If you practice harder, you can out-smart me" Rogue was quick to reassure her._

"_Yeah, but you're still going to be smarter though, being the calm and composed guy that you are." She yawned_

"_Probably." Rogue smiled._

_2 hours had passed and the kids were still playing with each other, or well, for Lucy and Sting, it was more fighting and constantly insulting each other. _

_"You three come here, I want to tell you children something." Jude walking in, sitting in a large arm chair, earning a frown from all of them. Lucy had long learned that when her father wanted to tell her something, it was rarely good news. _

_"Lucy, you and Sting are engaged as of today. In a few years time, you shall be wedded as bride and groom. Any objections?" The question was clearly cursory, since they both knew that even if the children protested, they would be paid no mind._

_The kids paled in complexion, Sting's mouth dropped open in shock much to his father's disapproval._

"_No! No! I object! I object!" Sting and Lucy frantically shouted in unison. He couldn't be serious, could he?_

_Jude sighed irritated, _

_"Then Rogue, you're Lucy's—"_

"_Uh, thanks but no thanks, uncle. I'm sure Sting will be a lot happier being Lucy's fiancé."Both children glared at him, in other words, he was saying 'I don't want to be dragged in this mess'._

"_He's lying!" Sting pleaded desperately with his father and Jude. "Rogue wants to marry Lucy, he does!"_

_Jude sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose._

_"That is enough, this is final, and you two shall just have to deal with the fact that you now engaged!" With that, he left the room, leaving no more chance for a discussion, though Lucy doubted that he would have listened regardless._

"_OBJECTION!"_

* * *

Lucy huffed, her hands running through her hair.

"Geez, why does Father always make ridiculous decisions like this? I thought that once we actually rejected each other that last time at Maybelle's birthday party he would let it go."

Sting rolled his eyes, "The hell if I know Lucy."

"Would you two stop? The situation is worse than I thought, look at this" Rogue pointed to a stack of envelopes sitting in a box on the table in the library. Upon opening it, it turned out to be something that caused them both to feel faint.

_" Sting Eucliffe and Lucy Heartfillia cordially invite you to their wedding at the Grand Hall of the Heartfillia Konzern, on the 25th December. We hope to see you there."_

Both of blondes, sighed tiredly, not wanting to go through it again.

"Ugh, I hate this! Can't we run away?" Sting said, half serious.

"Well, sure. Of course, Heartfillia would hunt you two to the ends of the planet so I don't really recommend it." Rogue said, eyes on the invitation that were soon going to be sent to the guests a few minutes later. "Anyways, let's just think of some other way." He tossed the card back in the box.

They nodded and decided to retreat to their rooms to discuss it further. But before they even got there, Rufus and Yukino met the three at the top of the stairs.

Rufus tipped his hat in greeting,

"I have news for all of the Saber Tooth mages, I've already informed the others, you two are the last to know."

Sting shrugged his shoulders, "Well, then tell us already."

Rufus sighed, shaking his head.

"You were never a patient one, were you? Anyhow, we've been ordered to make sure that the wedding progresses smoothly with no disturbances, and if there are any, we _will_ destroy them. Better yet, we'll annihilate them." He looked at them meaningfully.

"Yeah, we already know." Lucy said, looking bored.

"You two don't get it, huh? I can see clearly you're planning something, and that something involves with the wedding. Of course Sting doesn't want to marry Lucy-hime, Lucy would _never_ want to marry Sting."

"Hey!" Sting protested indignantly.

"You're obviously planning to ruin the wedding." Rufus stated, an empty sigh escaping his lips.

"Rogue, Sting, if you so much as break a glass at the wedding, you'll be banned from Sabertooth permanently, and you'll never work in another guild again." He growled at them warningly. He finished as he turned away. "That is all, I hope that you won't do any thing rash. _Arriverdeci._"

As he walked away, Yukino bowed to them and hurried after the masked man. The three of them groaned, but glanced at each other, the message between them not needing any voicing;

'_We'll work it somehow, let's talk in the room'_

* * *

_**~At the Train~**_

"A train?!" Natsu cried, staring at the vehicle in absolute horror, his face going from normal to a frightening white. "Kami-sama, what did I do to receive this punishment?!"

Erza's fist made solid contact with her boss's stomach in response to his screamed pleas to the gods.

"If you're a mafia boss, then you shouldn't complain! We have to save Lucy!"

"Erza's right, Pea Brain. Only five of us—You, me, Erza, Juvia, and Levy are able to go there directly, others will show up later, as back up." Gray said, and as usual, he was wearing only his black jeans. "We can't afford the train if we bring the whole family after all, the others will...find their own ways"

"Juvia wants to ask something first though..." Juvia started, thoughtfully.

"What?" Natsu groaned, thinking of the impending trip.

She twirled her blue locks, "Which Mafia Mob are we going up against?"

...

All of them face-palmed, a dark negative aura surrounding them as they realized that they had clearly forgotten something vital.

"Why didn't we ask Wendy and Lissanna about it first before we went!...Even the back-up teams don`t know"

"Guys, guys, calm down.." Levy assured them, sweat dropping at the franticness. Her eyes suddenly fell on a discarded envelope that bore the Heartfillia Family Crest, she glanced left and right to see if it belonged to anyone, seeing that no one missed the envelope, she leaned down and picked it up. Out of curiosity, she opened it and as soon as she read it, she paled visibly in shock.

"Uh, guys? You might wanna see this." She held out the envelope.

This effectively brought them out of their internal bickering over whose fault the lack of information was, Levy handed them the letter and let them read it out loud.

_"Sting Eucliffe and Lucy Heartfillia cordially invite you to their wedding at the Grand Hall of the Heartfillia Konzern, on the 25th December. We hope to see you there."_

"...What?" Juvia gaped at what was clearly a wedding invitation.

"How is that possible?!"

"Sting Eucliffe... No way! As in that famous Mafioso from Sabertooth?! How did she get engaged to that jerk?!"

Natsu, remained quiet, staring at the invitation, seething, his jaw set with a fiery determination. He suddenly jumped on the now slowly moving train, the rest of the Mob following, and suddenly felt intensely motion sick. He shakily reached into his pocket and withdrew a bottle of white colored pills, popping two in his mouth and almost immediately sighing in relief. The pills are able to temporarily remove symptoms of motion sickness in people like; Natsu, Wendy, Gajeel, Laxus, Sting, and Rogue. Rogue and Sting used it in chapter 6, Wendy used it in chapter 3, and Natsu used it in the current chapter

"Good thing that you brought the pills, eh?" Natsu nodded, and sighed in relief as the train fastens. "Well, thanks to the invitation, now we know that our opponent is Sabertooth. But they won't go down easy. They aren't the top Mob for nothing. Do _not_ underestimate them, or you will be chewed up and spit right back out. " Erza said warningly, she wanted her friends to be prepared to fight their adversary.

Gray took out his phone, and dialled the famous External Advisor of Fairy Tail, a.k.a Gildarts Clive.

"Gildarts, I need a favour; I need you to contact _all_ of our members. Tell them that we've got a wedding to crash at the Heartfillia Konzern. Tell them to prepare for war. They're holding one of us hostage."

"_**All**__ of them?! Are you out of your mind you damn exhibitionist?! There are like...__**hundreds**__ of them! And what war?"_

Gray's onyx eyes closed and mouth set in a tight line of grim determination. "Yeah, they're holding Lucy hostage and her dad is using a Mob to protect himself, he's using Sabertooth—"

"_Sabertooth?! You guys are insane! If you fail—"_

"We won't fail, _That_, I guarantee." The finality in Gray's voice left no room for argument.

A sigh was heard from the other end of the line, and then, there was the sound of slight scuffling.

_"Wait, Laxus, give me back the phone!"_Gildarts voice rang out in exasperation.

Gray raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Laxus? He's there? I thought you sent him to a mission as the vice External Advisor..."

"_Yeah, it's me. Well, the old man decided to send out Jellal, Ultear and Meredy. War huh? And with Sabertooth of all people? You guys sure got guts, but that's Fairy Tail for ya. I got it, I'll contact them all with the old man and the former members of Grimoire Hearts"_Laxus said. Jellal, Ultear, and Meredy are members of the External Advisors since 2 years ago. They are former Crime Sorciere mafiossos, but due to the mafia war years ago, it was disbanded under amiable terms.

"What the?! The Grimoire guys are out of jail already?! After the all the robberies that they've committed?" Grimoire Hearts was a former gang of skilled robbers, they were caught a year ago by Lamia Scale with the help of Fairy Tail and Blue Pegasus combined.

"_Yeah, a few weeks ago. Natsu decided to recruit them to the family, didn't he tell you?"_Laxus asked amused. Gray glared at his boss who grinned at him apologetically._"Anyways, good luck ya' guys! Don't lose, or it'll get ugly."_

Laxus hung up the phone, and Gray nodded at his team mates they didn't need words to know that what they were starting was inter-mob war, and even if it was forbidden, Fairy Tail was willing to risk it for Lucy. She was family after all, and _no one_ messed with family. No matter who they were

"We still have 2 days, we'll arrive at the Heartfillia Konzern in about one days time, so we have basically one day left, and we'll use that to prepare ourselves for war. Am I understood?" Erza ordered, a stern tone in her voice.

All of them nodded.

"The thing is, we need a plan... is Gajeel still on his mission?" Levy nodded, a frown on her face, expression pensive. "And he's one of our trump cards too...what are we going to do?"

"Gah! Who needs that Metal Boy?! We'll handle it ourselves!" All of them sighed hearing Natsu's childish statement, despite the fact that Natsu was, in fact, the one who recruited the man into Fairy Tail in the first place.

Shaking her head, Juvia sighed.

"Juvia thinks that Natsu-san needs to calm down a bit and not get carried away by his feelings."

* * *

_**~ 3 hours later~**_

After much deliberation, arguing and discussion, it seemed the Alpha group finally had a working plan in motion.

"Yosh! This should work, right?" Natsu cheered; glad that the hardest part was over. He never liked strategizing. If it were up to him, he would just break down the front door and storm the place.

Levy took a long look at it and thought.

"It's a bit reckless, but...it works, so let's do this!"

* * *

_**Meanwhile, in Rogue's and Sting's room~**_

Lucy frowned and her eyes showing anxiety and guilt, as she spoke. All three of them were perched on the two twin beds in the room, the windows drawn shut to exclude an unwanted audience.

"You two...are you sure about this? If you do this...then you'll lose your jobs as Mafioso ...and no organization will ever hire you again."She looked distraught at the very idea.

Rogue and Sting blinked before Sting laughed as Rogue just chuckled, Rogue put a hand to her head and reassured her.

"Lucy, it's fine. We'll work it out somehow."

"Yeah, besides, I would rather disobey orders than marry someone that I don't love!" Sting grinned roguishly, giving her the brightest smile.

"About our jobs, we'll just have to search carefully for that, won't we. One step at a time Princess."

Rogue continued, "And...even though I said the complete opposite before, we _are_ friends. Even though we're from different Mobs, we're still going to stand by our comrades. Mobs aren't the only bonds we have you know."

Both of them smiled at her the kind of smile that made her melt and just tear up.

Lucy trembled, trying to hide her tears of relief. Rogue and Sting glanced at each other, shrugging their shoulders and threw her a pillow at her to hide the tears, hitting her smack in the face, causing her to let out a yelp as she tumbled to the floor.

"Come on, cheer up already! If you have time to cry then help us plan!" Sting said, roaring with laughter, and said mockingly.

Lucy giggled, and threw pillows back at them, though both missed the mark.

"I'll pay you back for that! It hurt you know! Control your strength a bit! Are you _trying_ to behead me?"

"Psh, weakling, and you call yourself a Mafiosso? You can do better than that! Pillow fight!" Sting taunted her, enjoying seeing Lucy's hackles rise. Sting always did love baiting the woman, he was constantly trying to get a rise out of her as kids too, Rogue remembered.

Rogue sat the fight out, deciding to seek refuge under the bed, while hiding excess pillows. No need to give them more ammunition then they already had._They are so immature sometimes. _He thought,_but it's a good kind of childish though_

He looked over the window,_Fairy Tail, huh...Lucy's a member of it. I wonder if they'll come to save their princess._

_...Will Gajeel come?_He shook his head, he needed to focus! But his thoughts kept drifting back to the raven haired man, known for his undeniable gruffness._If he __**does**__ come...then I'll definitely show him my skills, Gajeel, as a rival student under the teachings of Metalicana and Skiadrum, I will show you, I am better!_

Staring at the endless blue sky and the clouds that peppered it, he closed his eyes and let himself relax. Well as relaxed as one could be in the midst of an all out pillow war. The battle had long since left the realm of `fight`.

_I hope goes well or we're all in deep trouble. _

_Deep trouble indeed._

_**TO BE CONTINUED...**_

* * *

_A/N; Let me tell you guys something, THIS IS THE LONGEST CHAPTER I HAVE WRITTEN AND MY FINGERS ARE NOW ACHING IN PAIN  
_

_And as always~ Special thanks goes to **Mariya567** who beta-ed this chapter and gives me her opinions! It really helps on my writing~ ^o^ And she made this chapter longer lol XD But I still appreciate her! Cookies for her~ Give her credits would you? :D  
_

_And...this fanfic reaches 28 favorites and 41 follows! But someone seems that she/he remove my story to her/his favorite stories because yesterday, there's a total of 29 favorites.. :(  
_

* * *

Replies;

**Kitsune - Dark - Knight; **It was a cliffy back then, yes? XD Glad that you still love cliffhangers! Because I love making them so prepare for more... *inser evil laugh* Lol, me too. I won't mind if this ever turned out to be a StiCy but still, I want to make a NaLu story ^^ Maybe next time, I'll write a StiCY...or maybe I should make a special chapter/omake that is a StiCy in this fic XD NaLu situations will pop out after the war ends :3 Don't worry, I already planned out the..'fluff'

**moocow4me; **Thanks! I like your username, it's interesting :3 And please keep supporting this fanfic!

**KawaiiOdango; **Hehehe ;) I love making cliffhangers~ (evil, am I?) Hang on your seat, huh? I hope you'll stand for days because in this fanfic, I usually wrote quite long because this fanfic is my favorite and I want to make it the best! *^* Don't want to make the readers dissapointed~ And thanks for your answer, it's very reasonable ;3 And you're the only one who answered my question ;A;

**Rose Princess; **Yes, she does looks cool! X3 This is why I made her personality a bit OOC~ It's for her to look cool using guns, oh, and there's a fun fact about this story at the end! Read it! It's quite weird XD

**sereneskydragonslayer; **When the author writes so XD And~ You guessed right! Sting (or should I say, _Stink_ ;D) would defiantly object the idea :D You deserve your bet! *claps* here's 50 yen, (lol)

**FanFiclord123; **Ok, I understand ^^ And I read your latest chapter ;) Got to say that it's good! Keep up the good work, ne?

**AmuletDragonSlayerFairy; **Love your username XD, I myself is confused, is there dramas here? But there would be a Rogue x L**y (It's not Lucy, I assure you XD) I just love that pairing so I have to add the drama~ But if the readers doesn't like the pairing, then..I would still continue it *^* I HAVE THE AUTHOR'S PEN! *insert evil laugh* And thanks! Congratulations on being the 60th review :D

**Yuni-sama; **Um..okay..? Having problems with the cliffy huh? ^^;

* * *

_A/N; This is tiresome -.- AND I'M LOSING REVIEWERS HERE! No~~ T_T_

_Well, I would like to thanks my reviewers and those who read this fic, nevertheless! especially **Mariya567!**  
_

_Review please! Or follow, or favorite so I know that you're reading this! But remember that reviews will really tell me that you are really reading this or not...so review, ne? :3  
_

_P.S; Reachs 1.842 views this month! :Q_ I nearly fainted seeing the reviews, follows, and alerts you know..SO KEEP ON REVIEWING FOR FASTER UPDATES!  
_

__**Fun Fact #1  
**I planned this story as an Edo! NaLu fic

**Fun Fact#2****  
**I first planned Sting as an long lost brother of Lucy but changed the idea of it, thinking that fiancees are a better idea

_Ciao~  
_


	9. Chapter 8

**Mission 8; Disaster**

* * *

**Third Person's POV:**

December 24th rolled around pretty quickly after that, it was the day before the wedding. A wedding, which incidentally, was not accepted by either the groom or the bride. But, that, of course, was beside the point.

Soon enough though, in just a matter of time, there would be many misunderstandings that would happen.

Natsu and his team mates exited the train, glancing around in the hopes that they would catch a glimpse of the blonde, hoping that maybe she had found some method of escape.

The boss, unlike his lackeys, didn't really look for Lucy at the station, knowing that she wouldn't take such risk being as surrounded by the Sabertooth as she was. Re-reading the invitation again, his eyebrows rose questioningly. _Sting Eucliffe...Sting...why does the name sound so familiar? _ He wondered, while trying to quell his churning stomach.

"Oi, get a grip, Natsu! We have to rendezvous with the others soon!" Gray shouted impatiently at his boss. Natsu snapped out from his thoughts and nodded, storing the thought to examine later. "Let's see, Gajeel is still on his mission…"

Levy shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, he is. I don't know what's taking him so long though…" She stopped as if remembering something important. "Hey wait, isn't there a Sabertooth Mafioso that knows Gajeel?"

They all raised an eyebrow, "Really..? If he does, we've never heard anything about it."

"I think that I met him once when he was searching for Gajeel for training or else…"

"Well, it looks like he won't make it for this battle, so if there is someone he knows here, it doesn't really matter I guess. Let's go" Erza ordered, directing the group away from the station.

* * *

**[AT THE HEARTPHILIA ESTATE]**

"One day…more and it's the wedding" Rogue said idly, leaning against the wall of Lucy's room. Lucy groaned in response to the statement. She had been relaxing on her queen sized bed, trying not to think about the event that had the whole place in an uproar. She opened her eyes and snapped at the man.

"Don't remind me, ya jerk."

Rogue chuckled silently, waving a hand. "Sorry Lucy, I didn't mean to make you upset. Where's Sting?"

"He's checking out the house to get a feel of the wedding hall. Probably to make preparations for tomorrow." Lucy answered running a hand through her hair. Rogue nodded, and looked out the window. Lucy frowned as he released an empty sigh; she sat herself up from the bed and finally asked the man why he'd been so fidgety as of late. "Something wrong, Rogue? You've been awfully weird today."

Rogue put his palm to his chin, supporting it. "No, it's nothing. I'm just curious, that's all"

"Curious about what?"

He shrugged his shoulders, and turned to look at her, eyes full of a mysterious mirthfulness.

"You know, sometimes, you ask too many questions. Well, you're a part of Fairy Tail so I guess you would know ..." Rogue said thoughtfully. Lucy raised an eyebrow as Rogue turned to look at her.

"Hey, how's Gajeel doing?"

" Gajeel? You know the Tin Can?"

"Tin Can?"

"Oh, I guess you don't know then. Gajeel got piercings. A whole lotta of 'em."

"Piercings…? So he got piercings too huh. Well yeah, I know him." Rogue answered

"He's doing fine but…Rogue, why do you want to know about him?" She asked, drawing circles with her finger on the bed sheet. Rogue chuckled from the lack of activity. Her eyes blinked a few times, and suddenly, her eyes became huge.

"Wait a second...Rogue...are you ga—"

"_I _am _not_ gay. Control your imagination will you?" Lucy blushed in embarrassment. "He's just a guy I used to know from Skiadrum's and Metalicana's teachings."

"Skiadrum..Metallicana…Uh, Metallicana is Gajeel's father right?" Lucy asked, realizing that despite being from the guild, she didn't know too much about her guild mates.

"Yeah, Sting also grew up in a situation similar to mine.. Anyway, when I was ten years old, I was trained by Skiadrum and soon after that, I met Gajeel who was training with Metallicana, we ended up training together. However…"

"When I was 12 years old, both of them disappeared. Just like that. No warning at all."

The blonde maiden widened both of her eyes as her mouth opened by a little, showing the shock expression clearly. "What? Like you just woke up one morning and they were just gone?"

"Mhm. After that, I never saw Gajeel again.. I was the first one to know and I went to Fairy Tail to talk to him about it once, but I'd missed him apparently and left a message with another guild member. I guess the girl I met that time clearly informed him of that, since he never sought me out to talk about it." He let out a breath, "But I know that Gajeel hasn't stopped looking for him. I heard he once stood on a roof and yelled out his dad's name until someone called the cops." A chuckle escaped from his lips

Lucy giggled at this, the man who always called her 'bunny girl' had more to him than met the eye clearly.

"So I'm guessing you did the same then?"

"No."

Rogue's gaze hardened, causing her own giggles to die right there.

"I stopped searching for my foster father a long time ago because…I already know that he's dead."

* * *

"_Dad! Metallicana-ji-san! Where are you guys?" 12 year old Rogue exclaimed, his crimson gaze traveled around the fields to look over the two black haired males._

_It was July 7th, and as promised, once a week Gajeel and Rogue would train together with their mentors. And today was that assigned day._

'_Gajeel hasn't come either…' Rogue mentally face palmed, still searching for their mentors. 'And here, I finally completed the move that father taught me too…'_

_Five minutes passed and the boy decided to go search at the crowded town, thinking that maybe Skiadrum and Metallicana had gone shopping there or were doing business there. He searched carefully with his enhanced sight, he tried to locate them but to no avail._

_As he walked around, searching for his missing mentors, he began hearing the hushed whispers of the townspeople around him. _

_"Ne, have you heard? Yesterday, those troublemakers in town; Igneel Dragneel, Weisslogia Eucliffe, Skiadrum Cheney, and Metallicana Redfox were assigned to a mission by their boss and the man with long dark blue hair, and a scar on his forehead was found __**dead**__!"_

_Rogue stopped in his tracks, eyes widening with shock._

"_I know! Beside him, there was a man with messy silver hair who was found dead too apparently!"_

_Metallicana was a man with short spiky black hair with piercings on his face, he always wore a scowl but he could smile when he wanted to. Many citizens were terrified of him because of his blood red eyes, but Gajeel and Rogue didn't fear him, in fact, they respected him. Metallicana, on the other hand, was a rather harsh person, and rude to boot, he was like one of those badass people in the fictional novels, who hated everyone and yet couldn`t leave those who were in trouble to their own devices._

_As for Skiadrum, his long neat dark blue hair ended at his neck, his bangs parted to the left neatly. His eyes were violet, and though he often came off as cold and calculating, he was in fact a kind man, deep, deep down. On his forehead, there was an X shaped scar there from a battle with a swords man long ago. He was also pretty blunt, which meant there weren._

_Igneel on the other hand was a man with short fiery red hair and a warm personality. He was cheerful and care-free, always laughing and optimistic. He was the foster father of Natsu Dragneel; a man with peculiar pink hair who had no idea what the word common sense meant in regards to planning and strategizing against an enemy. The same applied to his father, as the saying went; like father and son._

_And Weisslogia had short messy silver hair with contrasting golden eyes. He was arrogant and sometimes a bit childish, but knew when to be serious. Sting met him at the age of 5. Unlike the others, Sting was not an orphan, he had a family, but they never cared for him, choosing to be falsely kind when it suited their purposes but stuck to their cruel behavior for the most part. Sting said that Weisslogia saw him at the park being bullied and he saved him, and offering him a place to stay,._

_Those descriptions fit Skiadrum Cheney perfectly. __**And **__Weisslogia Eucliffe._

_~*!*!*_

_Rogue met Skiadrum on the streets as a pickpocket and a scavenger of food, tattered after searching for food at the forest. He was an orphan and a peculiar one at that. He always seemed older than his age, and his eyes, his strange unsettling eyes, made other people uneasy to be around him. Very soon, Rogue became a loner, even on the streets. They used to say that he who joined Rogue would meet a terrible end as a result of his cursed eyes. In the midst of this self-imposed isolation, Skiadrum found him and gave him a helping hand, while asking. "Would you join my family?" Rogue accepted that offer, and never once regretted it._

_After that, Skiadrum had been to him like the father he never had. And he met Sting when he was 5, when Skiadrum took him to the Eucliffe house, where Weisslogia lived. Apparently, they were both co-workers at the same "business". Sting and Rogue became friends immediately after that, a bond that neither understood, but never questioned._

_Skiadrum was the person that gave him his life. Possibly at the cost of his own._

_Now, he's…dead?_

* * *

"_**I think that the police found them in the Eve forest…."**_

_Rogue panted, stopping his running to the Eve forest. After regaining his breath, he continued on running until he found the police still there and yet there were no signs of the dead people in question. He walked towards them and he tugged one man's sleeves, asking. "Is it true that you found two dead men here?"_

_The man blinked before nodding his head, "Yeah, we found Skiadrum and Weisslogia; they've been taken to the morgue. Although, we only found those two while Igneel and Metallicana were nowhere to be seen."_

"_We`ve arranged a funeral for them tomorrow, but maybe people won't really visit it, hmm? Hey, kid!" The man called as Rogue ran into the forest and then turned to another officer, "What's with him?"_

_A foot made contact with his butt, as he was sent flying to the tree. "Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" He cried, wobbling back on to his feet._

_The man who kicked him sighed, "You idiot, that was Rogue Cheney, Skiadrum's adopted son."_

_His eyes widened in realization, a pang of guilt welled up inside. "I…see. Then, how about that boy, Sting, was it?"_

"…_He doesn't know, but I think that boy will tell him, but the rumors may find him sooner than Rogue."_

_Rogue went out from the forest, and searched for Gajeel, and he bumped to a certain bluenette wearing glasses. "I-I'm sorry…"_

"_N-no...it's nothing, are you here for Gajeel?" The girl asked. "I always see you with Gajeel after all, oh! My name's Levy McGarden, pleasure to meet you"_

_Rogue nodded slowly, trying not to cry for the first time in his life. He was alone again. What was he supposed to do now? _

_"Rogue, Rogue Cheney."_

"_Okay, Rogue. I'll go call him, okay?"_

"_Wait!" Rogue stopped her from calling Gajeel. "…I want you to sent this message, Just…tell him that Igneel and Metallicana are missing and Skiadrum and Weisslogia…are-are dead. Just tell him that, please? I..don't want to see him right now."_

_Levy nodded, sensing some kind of urgency in him that both puzzled and saddened her though she didn't know why._

_"I understand, then I will pass on the message."_

_Rogue gave out a smile, he intended to make it a grateful smile, but it turned into a bitter smile as he thought of his foster father's death. "Thank you, Miss Levy McGarden."_

_Levy shook her head as she smiled, "It's nothing, Rogue Cheney. I hope we meet again next time"_

_Rogue nodded, turning and walking away. He was going to the Eucliffe household to find Sting, he was sure that Gajeel would tell Natsu about the news._

_A tear trickled down his cheek; all he had wanted was to show his father his new moves and to hear him compliment him, like they often did. He loved the days when they would train together and joke together, like a family._

_But now, those days had ended. And they would never return. No matter how hard he cried, or how desperately pleaded with the heavens to return the man that had saved him._

* * *

The morning of December 25th, was fraught with tension for all involved. the wedding was in a couple of hours. All preparations were complete, the program for the wedding had been rehearsed so many times that every servant could recite it from memory, for the unwilling bride and groom, and the plan to destroy the wedding was only just starting.

As the guest gathered and settled themselves into their own seats, the bride and groom prepared for the wedding. And of course, preparing for its destruction.

Sting is now in his changing room with Rogue, fixing himself up his new tuxedo. Sting wore a white shirt with _all _of his buttons buttoned, which was a first for the rebellious young man. He finished the outfit with black pants with polished brown shoes. He also wears a black tuxedo similar to Rogues though his was slightly different with him being the groom and all.

"Bow tie or regular tie…" Sting wondered aloud, holding both in his hands.

"Regular tie. If you wear a bow tie, they you'll look like a complete dork. Wait, actually, wear the bow tie. I want to see you looking like an idiot." Rogue commented. "I'll grab the camera then."

A vein twitched in anger, "I won'twear a bow tie ya jerk, and I'll wear a regular tie, thank you very much. Tch, it's bad enough that my hair is combed with a hair gel, now I have to practically strangle myself with this useless piece of cloth."

"To tell you the truth, it fits you." Rogue chuckled.

"Stop messing around Rogue. I can hear you laughing behind me." Sting growled as the man chuckled. "And Rogue, you're seriously not fit to joke."

"Are you implying that I'm a bad joker?"

"Yeah, I am. You're terrible."

"Well good, because I don't want to joke anymore." Rogue sighed in relief. "Making fun of you is fun but I'm not comfortable with joking."

The blonde groom rolled his eyes, "This plan will work, right? I seriously do _not _want to marry that woman. She's bat shit crazy. I'd be dead within the first hour of our marriage."

"Crazy? I'm sorry. But Sting, the way I see it; you're a whole lot crazy than Lucy is" The dark haired male implied. "Now, hurry up and tie up your tie." The guests were getting antsy from what Rogue could see.

* * *

Lucy didn't even both with bickering of the two males on the other side of the room; she already knew that they were probably arguing about something stupid. Being childhood friends with them since she was 7 until now had taught her their habits, even if it was unwilling.

However, she thought, it doesn't mean I know about their past completely, I looks like they both had pretty harsh lives. They only said that they didn't have families once and that they were taken in by people named Weisslogia and Skiadrum when they were young was all the blonde knew about their past. She could sense, when they talked about their pasts, a sadness and sorrow that she felt wouldn't be appropriate to drag out so she didn't ask about it anymore, knowing that they would be hard pressed, same applies to Lucy who had amnesia before.

Her eyes winced when the maid tightened the corset on her waist, she had never worn a corset ever since she was 17, and goddamn that thing was tight. The maid noticed it and bowed her head in apology, saying she knew it hurt but that it had to be done. Lucy nodded in understanding.

After a few minutes of more pulling and tugging, she was finally wearing her wedding dress; she looked at herself in the mirror. She was forced to wear mascara _again, _her pink lips stained with a rose hued lipstick, her eyelashes thicker and longer_. _Her blonde hair had neatly been curled at the ends putting it in an elaborate up-do, meant to hold her veil properly. Her wedding dress had long sleeves and was appropriately white and with a bit of a Lolita style. She wore white thigh length stockings under the skirt with black high heels.

Unfortunately, she didn't like it at all.

"Um, thanks for all the…uh, make-up. I'm sorry, but, could I have a moment to myself. I just need to prepare myself mentally." She said to the maid, who nodded and bowed before leaving the room silently.

She let out a sigh of relief and opened her briefcase, hidden under a pillow that consisted of many guns and pocket knives, she grabbed 6 pocket knives and hid it at her left thigh; there's a pocket where she could store it, though it was meant for other things. The others she stuffed into the garter on her leg, then she grabbed two guns and hid it in the stockings of her other leg.

"…That's about all, now…all that left is the emergency power." Leaving the dressing room; she located the emergency power and pulled out a string and tied it, she extended the string and nodded approvingly, hiding it to tying it to her wrist and walked out from the room.

* * *

The wedding march song soon started, as the bride walked into the room with her face covered accompanied by her father; Jude.

Jude glanced from the corner of his eyes, smiling a smile that didn't reach his eyes and spoke to her out of the corner of his mouth.

"I am warning you, Lucy, _do not_ mess this up. I have planned this wedding for a long time now; I will not allow it to fail, understood?"

Lucy didn't reply, merely nodding. Hiding her smirk, she continued on walking to her equally forced groom; Sting Eucliffe. Sting had a scowl on his face, as if he were being shown something obtusely repulsive. Lucy resisted the urge to roll her eyes, while glancing around the room subtlety, to search for the dark haired male.

Rogue leaned back against the farthest wall, and used his skill; Shadow. A few more seconds…and he would cut off the power as Lucy will also pull the string and effectively turning of the emergency power. He noticed Lucy glancing around; probably to search for him. He dismissed his skill for a second and gave her the signal.

All of a sudden, the power went out. Jude looked enraged and searched the room, seeing Sabertooth Mafioso giving him a confused expression; even Jiemma raised an eyebrow at this.

"Why isn't the emergency power working?!"

Taking advantage of the confusion, Lucy slipped away from her father, dragging Sting with her. She pulled out her guns from her garter pocket and shot at the windows, making the guest scream and scatter in a panic, bumping into each other due to the lack of light in the room. Sting then grabbed a hold of her waist and threw her over his shoulder, carrying her like a sack as he jumped through the window for the exit, with Rogue following suit.

All Sabertooth Mafiosos scowled, scrambling to find the bride and groom and when the power finally returned, they found the bride and groom to be missing as well as Rogue Cheney.

"This is all their doing! They planned this!" Jude roared at the Sabertooth members.

"Quickly, find them!" Jiemma ordered his men, who then ran to the all plausible exits and searched for them.

Five people in hoods all were gaping at the turn of events, and followed closely behind them; it seems that they didn't have to go and do their plan if Lucy already escaped. Now what is left is to find the blonde and bring her back!

And of course, beat the crap out of the Sabertooth Mafiosos and to teach Jude Heartphilia a lesson.

Sting, Lucy and Rogue panted as they paused at a corner not far from the gates of the Heartphilia estate. Running away from a mob of famous Mafiosos wasn't easy. Glancing at each other, they smiled lightly, believing their plan to have worked.

If they were lucky, they could run away and disguise themselves right now; unfortunately, Lady Luck seemed to have a bone to pick with them because within seconds, the Sabertooth mafia gathered and surrounded them. Cursing at their stupidity, Sting pulled out his scythe, ready to fight. He slung the weapon in their direction which they deflected easily and as predicted, Sting's next move was to disappear almost completely from view.

Although they knew their comrades abilities, it didn't make fighting him any easier. Rogue was proving to be a difficult opponent as well, using his Shadow and knocking them out by a swift chop to the back of their necks as Lucy shot the others using her stun guns, rendering her assailants unconscious.

They found an opening and made a break for it only to have Rufus block their way.

"You two are in _big _trouble, Lucy-hime as well. I don't think I've ever seen your father this upset." Rufus glared, "Do you three _really _think that you can run away like this? Like it's going to be that easy? I know every town, city and village in this country. Even if you _could_ hide from me, every single member of Sabertooth will hunt. You. Down. There is no escape."

"YOU'RE REALLY NOISY, JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!" A voice screamed as a figure kicked Rufus from the left. Rogue, Sting and Lucy looked around in shock. It looked like they had back up. But from who?

"R-rufus-sama!" Yukino shouted, pulling out her guns and aimed it at the hooded figure. As she was about to pull the trigger, someone grabbed her by the hair and threw her to Orga. "T-there's another one…" She groaned from the ground.

Five hooded figures stood around Rogue, Sting and Lucy, protecting them.

"Natsu, I'll take this one" One said, pointing at Rufus. He took off his hood to reveal a man with black short hair and black eyes with a small scar above his right eye.

"G-Gray! I-if you're here, then..."Lucy gasped and then laughed, realizing what was happening. Then she sweatdropped as Gray quickly divested himself of all his clothing.

Natsu grinned at her, giving her a comically obvious once over.

"Yo, Luce! Nice dress you got there." He smirked at her in all her wedding dressed splendor. She did make an interesting sight. The wedding dress had torn in a few places, with a large slit down the front, exposing a long tapered leg and her veil now shredded and framing her face.

"Quit playing around, Natsu. I'll take this one, then." Erza said, walking towards the black braided woman, Minerva who smirked sadistically, not frightened in the least.

Levy and Juvia sighed,

"Juvia and I'll fight take the big guy over there." Orga raised an eyebrow and sweatdropped at being talked about as if he wasn't there.

"Are you sure, girls? I won't go easy on you even if you're women." Juvia rolled her eyes and Levy laughed.

Levy shrugged, "What does being a woman have to do with it? You want to go all out, then go all out. It'll make this more fun." She grinned ferally at them, and Lucy shook her head. The woman had clearly been spending way too much time with Gajeel.

"There are five of you...are you sure you can do it?" Sabertooth taunted them. They took comfort in the fact that they grossly outnumbered them.

Natsu smirked, "Who said that we're only five?" They widened their eyes, "We're all here, the whole happy family!" At this practically hundreds of guild members seemed to explode into the clearing right outside the Heartphilia Estate with a loud roar.

"Go! Don't hold back! Go all out! Show them the power of Fairy Tail!" Natsu pumped his fist into the air, yelling for everyone to hear.

"Os!"

Lucy smiled lightly, and glanced at Sting who had a maniacal grin on his face, that she recognized. This was not good. Not good at _all_.

"Sting..?"

Rogue sighed, not seeing his training anywhere. He had at least hoped that Gajeel would come. Oh well. Sting stood straight up and grinned wider, weapons at the ready. He swung them at Natsu who dodged it, surprised.

"Talk about a surprise attack!" He whirled around to see his assailant.

Twirling his scythe, he readied himself again and charged at Fairy Tail's boss who expertly dodged the attacks from the blonde.

"Yo..Natsu, long time no see." His scythe at his right hand swung to him, as an explosion sounded in the air, not far from where they were.

"Who are you, again?" Natsu asked, eyes crinkling in confusion.

Sting sighed, "I knew you would forget. Well let me give you a hint, remember the blonde boy who trained with you when 10?"

Natsu thought about it, the memory flashing into his mind. "Oh, Sting!"

"Finally you remember, now let's continue that last fight we had before we were interrupted by my dad huh?"

He threw his scythes again, with Natsu almost barely dodging it.

"What the…why the hell do you want to fight with me that much, huh?" The pinkette asked, gaining an annoyed look from Sting.

"I just want to kick your ass." Sting answered matter-of-factly.

"Can we do it some other time? I got business with Lucy's pops. The guy needs to understand who he's dealing with." As he made to leave, Sting taunted him.

"Oh no, it _has_ to be now, or are you afraid of getting your ass whooped by me..?"

That hit the mark, Lucy knew that he would never be able to back down now, she shook her head.

_Idiot. _

"Of course not, I'm definitely going to win!" He yelled at Sting indignantly.

"We'll see about that…"

Natsu pulled his dynamites out, throwing them in different directions. As the dynamites exploded, he grabbed the flame thrower from his back and aimed it at Sting. Sting evaded the flaming projectiles, cutting them in half, seeing the flame coming from the flame thrower, his dark dull green eyes widened and he rolled to his right, almost getting flambéed in the process.

He cursed seeing his left arm get singed and vaulted back on to his feet as he saw another flame coming to him, coupled with dynamites.

_Crap!_

He braced himself being hit by the flame; Rogue intercepted them, unsheathing his katana and quickly cut the dynamites in half as he then twirled his katana quickly. After the flames dispersed, Rogue swung his sword to his right.

"Be grateful that I chose the flame resistant katana."

"Rogue…who told you to butt in?" Sting asked, glaring at him. The dark haired male sighed, turning his head turning to pin Sting with an annoyed look.

"I did not 'butt' in; Shadow supports Light. When you made me your partner, isn't that what we decided?"

Sting smirked wryly, "Huh, right as always. And yet, you're still a pain in the ass."

Natsu pointed an accusing finger at them.

"two against one! That's not fair" He argued, whining.

Sting shrugged his shoulders, "Isn't it supposed to be 2 against 2? Look above you."

He looked confused then looked above as he saw a figure in a flying leap overhead. He growled as the figure landed on a branch on a tree above them.

"Yo, Salamander."

"…You're…already back." Natsu didn't even look up.

Gajeel scoffed from his position on the tree, crouching, one hand on his knee the other supporting his chin and the elbow resting on his thigh.

"Did you really think I was gonna miss _this? _You started a war without me? And with Sabertooth of all the Mafias? Once again, your stupidity never fails to amaze me."

"What the hell are you doing here? Are your mission is already over?" Natsu asked irritably, not responding to the obvious baiting. The guy was such a piss off.

He nodded non-commitally.

"Finished yesterday, but got distracted on the way back. These guys are the opponents?" Sting and Rogue impatiently watched the two walk through their insanely slow banter.

Natsu scratched the back of his head, shrugging.

"Well, yeah…I guess we're going to have to work together."

Scowling again, Gajeel glared at his boss, looking down on him from the tree.

"Work together with _you? _Psh, hell no. You do it your own way and I'll do it my own."

"I couldn't have said it better myself. Glad to see that we agree." Rolling his eyes, he readied himself with his flamethrower as Gajeel pulled out his axe.

Gajeel looked at his opponents and grinned, Sting grinned in return, finding the tag team interesting. Rogue looked above and pointed his katana at Gajeel.

"Yo, Rogue. Long time no see." The dark haired male nodded slightly. "I guess you're up for match, right?" Gajeel jumped down from the tree effortlessly.

"Of course I am. I'll defeat you for sure…Gajeel"

Lucy who watched them silently, gaping at the scene unfolding before her. _What the hell are they doing? _She wondered, taking out her guns and entered the fray.

_I guess…this is war._

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_A/N; A freaking long chapter lol  
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_This is like 5 thousands words, even more!  
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Replies;_  
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**Christalish; **Yeah, a freaking long chapter indeed, -.- But this is longer! hehehe ;)

**GoldenRoseTanya; **^^; Okay. thanks~ :D

**Kuchiki Rukia-Taichou; **Merry belated christmas to you then XD

**Rose Princess; **Big Trouble...is the trouble when they escaped and fight with Fairy Tail :) That's what it means

**CupcakeGirl633; **New reviewer! Yay :DThank you for your compliments X) They made me blush (even now, lol)

**moocow4me; **XD Yeah...thanks...(/?)

**sereneskydragonslayer; **Thank goodnes for me too, because I don't think that Sting/Lucy in this fanfic doesn't match at all XD I think that the next chapter is going to be more good though . Because it's war! hahah

**SakuraIchigoDark; **Here's Gajeel ;) Oh, Levy works as a...you'll see later X3

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_A/N; Ah~ Thank you and Happy New Year! Of course thanks to Mariya567 for beta-ing the chapter ;)_

_Oh, I have an announcement. if this reachs 100 reviews, I'm going to make a one-shot about this! How about that? I got 20 one-shots ready (the summary of course XD)  
_

_Ja ne! Please Review!  
_


	10. Chapter 9

**Warning: The Author sucks at writing battle scenes **_**really **_**suck at it. So I, the author, kinda...skipped the battle part a bit...Besides, lately the chapters were pretty long. (Reccomend it when you read this, go hear the song Propane Nightmares, by Pendulum Celdweller remix)**

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**Mission 9: Pride**

**Third Person's POV:**

"Show me what you've got." Sting said, shifting on his feet slightly, preparing for the fight ahead. Predictably, he disappeared as he advanced towards Natsu, appearing in front of the man again so suddenly, that there was no time to block the blow. Natsu was sent reeling back, clutching his bruised jaw.

Sting smirked arrogantly, cracking his knuckles as he stood opposite the Fairy Tail boss.

"That better not be it! You were stronger before. Why don't you fight me properly? I _know_ you could have dodged that one."

Natsu spat blood from his mouth out onto the ground and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. He gingerly felt the bridge of his nose and winced with pain. Hissing at the pain, Natsu glanced at Sting.

"I don't have to fight you. I don't know why you're trying to pick a fight, but right now, you are the least of my worries. I don't believe in fighting for no reason, I have better things to do with my time." Natsu then turned around and glanced at Gajeel, seeing the man was embroiled in his own fight with Rogue.

Sting raised an eyebrow, amused by his answer.

"So, you're holding back because I haven't given you a legitimate reason to fight me?"

Natsu nodded slightly. Sting let out a laugh,

"So, what if I said that I..." He crossed his arms, studying the man's expression. "I kidnapped Lucy Heartphilia and was behind the attacks in Acalypha. That it was me who injured her comrades as well as the Lamia Scale Cops. Incidentally, I also happen to be Lucy's fiancé."

Though he hadn't wanted to mention his forced engagement, something told Sting that it would prove to be the tidbit of information that would send Natsu over the edge, though he suspected that he already knew.

Natsu held out a hand to the blonde and then closed it into a fist, the result of which was the shattering of a large boulder behind him.

"So…" Fairy Tail boss began, "You're that." The words were a statement, not a question. Sting saw Natsu's eyes fill with rage, if looks could kill, Sting would have been dead three times over. He didn't look scared at all though. In fact, he seemed almost _happy_.

"Well _finally_. I was beginning to think you'd never get serious."

* * *

Meanwhile, Rogue used 'Shadow' against Gajeel disappearing from sight, causing Gajeel to eye his surroundings suspiciously. He heard sounds of footsteps behind him and whirled around to smashing rocks, not finding anyone other than a completely terrified Sabertooth Mafioso.

"Tch, where the hell are you, Rogue?!"

"Behind you" Rogue appeared, unsheathing his katana and swung it at Gajeel, seeing it make contact with his back and blood splattering to the ground.

"I've been here the entire time. You know, there's more to combat than brute force. It requires an analytical mind, one that can draw strength from their surroundings and use it to their advantage."

Gajeel got up and felt his back, inspecting the damage. Fortunately, he had managed to dodge at the last second although he still sustained some injuries. All of a sudden, Gajeel laughed, earning himself a look from Rogue.

"Gihihi, I finally figured out your trick."

Rogue didn't look surprised; rather, it seemed he was expecting him to say it. Gajeel continued, "Your 'Shadow' trick which made you disappear from sight is just misdirection."

Rogue clapped slowly, almost in a condescending manner.

"As expected from a former classmate. You figured that out fast. _But, _don'tthink that knowing that will guarantee you a victory. Shadow isn't the only skill I have, and you would do well to remember that." Rogue finished, pointing his katana at Gajeel.

Gajeel twitched, while growling. "You better remember that I ain't what I used to be either. If you think this is going to be an easy win, you got another thing coming."

Rogue closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Opening them, he crouched slightly and readied himself for the battle he'd anticipated and trained for.

"Then let us finish what we started all those years ago."

* * *

"_Sabertooth is the best!_

_In this war, we'll never rest,_

_Till the fairies are good and dead,_

_We'll kill and kill and kill instead_!"

Orga sang, cackling maniacally, all the while dodging the dual attacks of Juvia and Lucy. Juvia made to pierce her spear through Orga's arm, though he caught it fairly quickly, raising the spear above his head horizontally, Juvia held on, and ended up being dangled off the ground.

"Ugyaa!"

"Give up, would you? You're no match for me." He taunted blithely. Juvia pursed her lips and used her swinging momentum to start kicking him, she then noticed Lucy creeping up behind Orga.

Juvia released her hold on the spear and dropped to the ground, crouching and delivering a spin-kick that knocked Orga's feet out from underneath him. As Orga stumbled, Lucy used his own weight to send him careening into a boulder causing it to shatter on impact.

"What the hell…?!" He groaned, stumbling back up from the rubble, coughing.

"Lu-chan, Juvia! His right arm!" Levy yelled out from her perch up in a tree. The two wasted no time in complying with orders, Orga was quickly sent flying into another boulder. This time, arrows and axes suddenly rained down from different directions to him and from beneath him, grenades exploded, disorienting and wounding the Mafiosso.

"I'm not just here to treat the injured. I'm the tactician and mechanic of Fairy Tail! Every weapon we wield is _my _creation." Levy said, "And every trap you come across in the Heartphilia Estate, is mine. Better watch out, there's a whole lot of them left." Levy smiled a feral smile, reminiscent of the one Lucy had often seen Gajeel sporting.

Lucy sighed hearing the tone of her friend; _She's been hanging out with Gajeel for way too long…_Rolling her eyes, she loaded her gun. _At least she only like this when we're fighting.._

Her gaze swept through the fighting swarms and stopped on Erza and Minerva's battle; both of them were fighting at full potential. Tattered and bruised, it was clear that thiers was more than a clash of swords, it was a clash of wills and of pride for their Mafia. Lucy looked at them frowning.

"_**Sleep, little girl."**_

She grabbed a hold of her head, suddenly feeling nauseous, unceremoniously collapsing to her knees. The man's voice rang in her head many times, letting the past memories overflow inside her.

"Tch." She murmured, she did not want to remember her childhood; there was an uncertainty in it that scared her.

A memory that would forever haunt her, if she did not try to forget it completely.

Pulling the trigger; she quickly took out the lesser Mafiosos in Sabertooth. Shaking her head she pushed those thoughts aside by distracting herself with the fight at hand.

_Focus, Lucy, this is war._

* * *

It was an 1 hour, 15 minutes before Lucy noticed that the Sabertooth mafiossos were no longer putting up much of a fight. She lowered her gun a bit, eyeing her surroundings cautiously. Lucy saw the battle through their eyes, it was a vision full of fear and panic.

_What are they so afraid of?_ Lucy wondered, holding her gun up again and shooting a Mafiosso who tried to shoot her, while trying analyze their expressions. It was clear enough that they were scared, no hope left, and Lucy knew, that those were the expression of someone in their last vestiges of life.

Lucy, a veteran of solo missions once that sometimes involved murder, was certain of that. She's fond of seeing the terrified expression of a person on the brink of defeat.

But what didn't make sense was that they _knew_ that Fairy Tail was a Mafia that prided itself on only killing when there was an extreme necessity. So why did they wear the expression of a people on the very edge of death?

She received her answer in the form of a looming giant figure behind her. Turning, Lucy saw it was Jiemma, the notoriously merciless Master of Sabertooth.

"You scum! You pathetic imbeciles!" Jiemma yelled at his lackeys, as they tensed and trembled in fear. "We _are _Sabertooth! We do _not_ lose! If you plan on sullying my name with defeat then kill yourselves right now, before I do it for you! Only the strongest survive in the world, do you want to live?!" Silence was his answer, everyone was too afraid of answering this behemoth of a man.

"Do you?!" He repeated, commanding a response from them. They forced themselves to nod slowly. "Then win! Those that admit defeat will be left to rot in shame!"

Jiemma growled under his breath, and his gaze sharpened as he looked down at Lucy.

"And you, _girl."_ He spat the word with disgust, Lucy held her gun up to him, face devoid of expression. "You'll come with me." She saw with a start that behind him stood her father.

He grabbed a hold of her collar, and threw her over his shoulder carelessly. Lucy kicked and punched him, screaming and demanding to be released, but Jiemma's body was strong enough to withstand her blows and he carried on, ignoring her. She tried to pull the trigger of her gun, but all that resulted in was Jiemma twisting her gun arm until she screamed.

But no one heard her scream. The sound was drowned out in the field of battle.

* * *

Sting coughed, blood dripping down from his temples. He swapped his scythe to his left hand, when his right hand ripped the hem of his wedding tuxedo. Putting the scythe down, but still on his guard, he tied the fabric on his forehead, temporarily stopping the bleeding.

Natsu released his breath, his flamethrower on his hand. With his right hand, he pulled the trigger of the flamethrower as his left hand threw a pair of dynamite sticks at Sting.

The Sabertooth Mafioso ducked and jumped away from the flying explosives, landing a few meters from the flames. The ground beneath him suddenly rumbled and the ground beneath his feet exploded, Sting just barely avoided the blast caused by the grenade. Picking up a piece of the explosive, he recognized it as the handiwork of the Fairy Tail weapons Master, Levy McGarden.

"Tch!" He grunted, and took a risk; he flung the scythe in Natsu's direction, and then rushed him, seemingly weaponless. Natsu widened his eyes, not expecting that he take such a risk. If he dodged the scythe, Sting had nothing at his disposal except his fists.

Unfortunately for Natsu, he hid a dagger in his shoes.

Sting whirled towards him as the Fairy Tal boss ducked under the flying weapon and then was caught off guard as Sting barreled into him, shoving the blade into his gut.

Sting then kicked Natsu in the face, yanking the blade out at the same time, sending him reeling back, stumbling into a tree. Natsu cursed as he leaned against the tree, ducking as Sting followed him mercilessly, hammering blow upon blow at him.

"Gah!" Natsu choked out, feeling blood flowing out of the wound. _I've got to finish this fast! _He looked at Sting who had paused momentarily.

_One...last...hit!_

Sting sighed heavily, "Natsu-san..." He called out. "Let's finish this."

Both of them were already out of stamina, this next confrontation was the deciding factor.

They grabbed two sabers on the ground, belonging to some fallen Sabertooth Mafioso.

They charged.

* * *

_Clang!_

A sword and axe clashed with each other. Pulling their weapons, they swung it again only to clash at each other again. Sweat dripped down from their foreheads, their breathing shaky.

Rogue's left arm had been rendered useless from a strong blow to the shoulder and his right leg was sprained from avoiding the various traps Levy had left on the ground. He was battered, bruised and wounded but remained relentless in his offensive.

Gajeel fared no better, his right eye was blinded by the blood pouring from a cut two inches above his right eye. He sported bruises on his stomach and legs, cuts, and deeper cuts on his arm from Rogue's Katana.

They were nearing their limits though both refused to admit it.

They fought as though theirs was the only battle in the world, outside interferences barely noted. In the end, Gajeel managed to swing his axe at Rogue, who lost his grip on his sword and ducked, avoiding it. Gajeel's axe flew out of his grasp and he resorted to punching and kicking Rogue.

Rogue returned each blow in full. They made a fist duel of it in the last stretch, finally punching each other at the cheek simultaneously.

Rogue collapsed to the ground and attempted to get up but found that his body no longer responded to his commands. Gajeel staggered over to grab a hold of Rogue's hair, forcing his head up, crouching at his level.

"You know, ever since we were kids, you never lost a fight. Not once. I tried pretty hard too, but for some reason, I could never win against you."

Rogue lay on the ground, trying to get up and yet still failing. It seemed his body had had enough. With a final knee to the gut, Rogue slipped into unconsciousness and Gajeel let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.

"Why don't you...lose just this once."

Sting collapsed to the ground, trying to catch his breath.

Natsu wiped the dust with his scarf, breathing heavily. Finally, it had ended, but now, he still had to confront Jude Heartfillia. He inspected the damage to himself and flinched as his hands grazed over a particularly deep cut.

_Well, it could have been worse._

The boss turned to find Mira Jane and ask her to treat his wounds, but as he did so however, he heard breathing from behind him, a shaky breathing. Widening his black eyes, he turned quickly, almost stumbling back in surprise.

Regaining his composure, he breathed. "You...You're still awake?"

The blonde panted, his blonde locks covering his eyes.

"I...can't...lose..I _won't_ lose."

Natsu sighed, irritated, running a hand through his hair.

"Give it up, already! We can fight some other time...! I'm already tired as hell and I still gotta find that father of Lucy ."

"You..would never understand"

He raised a an eyebrow questioningly.

"Hah?"

Sting's expression turned desperate.

"I can't lose, not to anyone. I _have _to win."

"You're saying that to prove to Uncle Weisslogia that you're strong, right? Enough already, you're strong! Let it go." Natsu said.

"_THAT'S NOT IT!" _Sting abruptly shouted, limping from his spot. Natsu tensed up, the aura Sting held...was...different. Natsu had never felt anything like it.

"You don't understand my pain. You don't understand how I live!"

"I...definitely won't lose!"

* * *

Gajeel cracked his knuckles and stretched out his muscles, getting up from his spot on the ground next to the passed out Rogue.

"Ahhhhhhh. That felt good...hm?"

He glanced around him, suddenly anxious. He scanned it again, double checking whether or not the exhaustion had finally messed with his head.

Smacking himself once on the head to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, Gajeel paled and surveyed his surroundings.

"Rogue's gone..."

* * *

Rogue had woken up, sensing that Sting had gone over the edge. He rushed to Sting's side and found that Sting was fighting a supremely confused Natsu. The dark haired male sighed, so he had also been defeated but refused to accept it.

Rogue himself, refused to accept it. They both had too much pride to lose just like that.

Their pride would be broken, torn apart, like a shattered glass.

And...their pride as _'brothers' _would fly away.

Weaponless, he aided Sting. Natsu cursed, where was Gajeel when you needed him?!

"A Shadow becomes stronger when the Light shines brighter..." Rogue stated, before hitting Natsu square in the face. "Sting's right...we can't lose."

"OI, THERE YOU ARE, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Gajeel came racing into view.

"Gajeel..." Rogue glared.

Gajeel scoffed, "Persistent, aren't you?"

They started their fighting stances, preparing themselves.

Until Jiemma stepped into view.

Sting and Rogue tensed up immediately, a bad, _bad _feeling overcame them just by seeing Jiemma's look.

"Rogue...Sting..." The elder began. "...It appears that you two have lost."

Sting flinched, paling visibly. "N-no! We didn't lose!"

"It's futile to deny it!" Jiemma shouted, "I watched the battle. It was purely disappointing."

Jiemma pulled out a remote, with only one red button. The Sabertooth duo stiffened and looked wide eyed at the device as Natsu and Gajeel glanced between the boss and their opponents.

"Do you remember the promise that you two made me?" He said idly, twirling the device in his hands.

Rogue swallowed hard, if Jiemma really pushed that button...everything would be lost. Their promise, their pride as '_brothers'_

Trembling slightly, they nodded. Fear very clear in their eyes. It was a fear Natsu had seen and wore before, the fear of losing someone important.

"You two joined Sabertooth, and we had a deal did we not? You promised never to lose a fight. So what happened here? You do remember the punishment if you lose, right?" He smirked as the two now shook their heads, eyes pleading with him not to do it. Rogue and Sting flinched as Jiemma feigned pushing the button.

"A Sabertooth mage must always be aware of their status. Tthe most important rule in this guild is to never lose. You lose, then you lose what is most important to you. Your most important thing...or _person._"

He chuckle, at the horrified looks his audience wore.

"Your sister, Claire Eucliffe, is as good as dead. Congratulations boys."

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_A/N: A short chapter after two **very **long chapters, but I think that the next chapter would be longer than before *shrugs*_

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Replies:_  
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**Rose Princess: **Ma, ma, yes, it has started. And if I can make it, the next chapter would be the end of the war, I think. I hope this chapter is good :)_  
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**Takamiya Sakura:** He~ Sokka, you've been waiting for it? Thanks! I' think I can write at least one chapter for like 5-10 days (I'm quite the lazy person) But sometimes it can be more XD I hope you're patient enough~ I think that I'm, the one who is very excited to write the new chapter, but oh well, the readers are sometimes very excited too :D

**SakuraIchigoDark: **Lool, he uses a flame thrower and dynamites, fits him, ne? Thanks, I thought that him using that weapon isn't nice enough, not very confident 'bout th

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at ^^"

**Sereneskydragonslayer: **Lucy is really face-palming that time XD But shrugs it off, because it's war after all. She would deal with it later...I guess you can guess that she would scold them later *oops

**CupcakeGirl633: **Aw, thanks! It was really long, right? Huahaha, they are just like that, besides, it would be more interesting and also amusing for them to fight with each other like that! :D

**Shortypink: **I realize that there are many of the characters in this FF that are OOC -.-" Levy in this chapter is like, whoa, OOC much? -sigh- can't find a better way for her to say that.

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_A/N: A **BIG **thanks for **shortypink** (for telling me the characters are OOC) and **Mariya567** (For beta-ing and made the battle scene more interesting)!_

_Now, readers, I would like to ask you a favor to tell me the truth what do you think about this chapter and also story! I included an OC here, and also in later chapters, I would introduce more for the plot. And also, I realized that not many people ever review, they most likely review in the first chapter then only read the other without reviewing it. Well, I don't mind but I would like to say something: That I won't know that you are reading this or not.  
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_Hey, my thoughts can go everywhere and once I thought that the people that read it didn't like it and abandoned reading the story, yeah, I thought it like that. SO please, if you can, review...  
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_I'm sorry if I hurt you guys if I said that...but...*sigh*  
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_Oh yeah, do you think IF this fanfic can reach 100 reviews, I should write a special one-shot or more about this story? Answer that please :)  
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_That's all, review! Seriously, please review.  
_

* * *

_**Preview for the next Chapter: **__  
_

__**Mission 10: The Important Person  
**

**"Claire Eucliffe...?"  
**

**"Ya brat, watch where you're going!"  
**

**"Fuck off, you old man"  
**

**"She's in terrible health"  
**

**"Come, to my place"  
**

**"I'm Skiadrum, your new father."  
**

**"You bastard! How could you?!"  
**

**"Give Lucy back"  
**

**"She can't be dead"  
**


	11. Chapter 10

**Mission 10: The Important Person**

* * *

**Third Person's POV:**

"Claire Eucliffe...?" Natsu murmured the name under his breath, glancing at the two men that had gone rigid.

Gajeel was known for his ability in gathering intelligence on just about anybody and everybody, but even he was caught off guard. Both he and Natsu had known Rogue and Sting for many years and never once had either mentioned _anyone_ by the name Claire. Jiemma _had_ said that she wasn't blood related to either man but still, related or not, if she was involved with the two, it should have come up in his investigation of them somewhere.

Did that mean that 'Claire Eucliffe' didn't exist at all? Was it a metaphorical threat?

_No,_Gajeel concluded internally. _Judging by the look of on their faces, she must really exist._

Natsu's gaze softened, _so they do have something to fight for. This Claire Eucliffe must be their important person._He almost grinned at the thought, glad that his former comrade had an important person except for their deceased foster father, but then remembered what Jiemma had just said.

"_**You'll lose your most important thing...or person"**_

He knew the feeling of losing someone important, and he knew what it could do to a person who had already lost one person in their life. He knew that despite how tough they looked, it was unlikely that such an occurrence would be taken well by either of them.

"_**Claire Eucliffe is as good as dead. Congratulations boys."**_

She was dead already?

Claire Eucliffe was _dead_?

Or was Jiemma bluffing?

It was either that or...he was waiting for the right time to shock them with the fact that though she wasn't dead yet, but she very well could be if they didn't do as ordered.

_Forget about that now_, Natsu thought as he felt a sudden and a strong sense of rage coursing through him. His heart tightened, as if someone had a firm grip on it.

* * *

***[Sting's Story]* The Past**

_The boy had nowhere to go now_

_Neither his parents, relatives, nor his friends would accept him. Even his friends weren't real friends; they just approached him with fake intentions of being friends and with fake smiles._

_He belonged to no one,_

_Had nothing left._

_He was alone in a world where selfishness ruled the masses_

_He hated everything. And why shouldn't he? He had nothing to love and nothing to live for._

_There had been a time when he had thought that these people that he had considered important to him would stand by him, he found it was exactly the opposite. They had betrayed him, he trusted them and they had sold him out. _

_It was ironic though. He remembered once catching a friend in the act of stealing oranges from a vendor and sworn out of friendship not to tell anyone._

_The next day, he was the one being accused of stealing the fruit._

_It was then that his eyes had been opened to reality. This world, he thought, it was filled with liars, traitors, cheaters, and criminals._

_He had sometime wondered, as a boy, what was "justice"? Being a five year old boy, he didn't really know too much about it. But he knew that the world needed it to function and without it, it would slowly crumble._

_He remembered hearing a saying from an auntie on the street, "even in the blackest of nights, a light still shines, and then, young man, it is up to you to find it. In this black hearted, cruel world, you have to find something to love. Something to give you purpose." There must be one thing. But Sting didn't believe her. As he had walked away from her, he thought bitterly to himself._

_In his world, what was there to love?_

_...Nothing. Nothing in his world meant anything to him or he to them._

"_Oi!_ _Ya brat, watch where you're going!"_

* * *

**{With Weisslogia}**

_The screams of his wife seemed to permeate the room, the sound of it making people wince for the woman. Weisslogia, sat in the waiting room, nervously biting his fingernails, foot tapping impatiently on the ground. What if his wife died after giving birth? What if something went wrong?_ _Suddenly, the screams stopped and was quickly replaced by loud cries of a newborn baby, Weisslogia got up shakily and turned towards the door and seconds later, The nurse appeared with a smile on her face and handed Weisslogia the baby._

_"Congratulations sir, i__t's a girl."_

_The newborn baby had chubby cheeks, and small hands. When she opened her eyes, they were big and gold, similar to Weisslogia's own eyes. Right then and there, Weisslogia knew that when she became a woman, his daughter would most certainly be a sight to behold._

_He turned to the nurse with a grin, cradling the infant as if she were made of glass. "What about my wife?"_

_She released a breath, and smiled. _

_"She's alright, she's currently resting." She led him to the room, "There she is."_

_His wife had long silky blond platinum hair, her hair looked sweaty and messy from the birth , her eyes were closed, drawing attention to her petty long eyelashes on her heart shaped face. Just when Wesslogia smiled at the sleeping woman, her eyelashes fluttered and she slowly opened her eyes._ _Weisslogia stared at her soft grey eyes, who looked kindly at his own golden eyes._

_His eyes softened at her, "Thank goodness, you're okay, Natalia."_

_Natalia sighed, then locked eyes with the baby. "..What should we name her?"_

_Weisslogia blinked and grinned childishly, _

_" Claire. Claire Eucliffe, the daughter of the beautiful Natalia Eucliffe and the mighty Weisslogia Eucliffe!" He said it so proudly that Natalia giggled, _

_"Claire Eucliffe...what a beautiful name." The woman smiled kindly and then looked worriedly at her daughter. She was unnaturally pale, and looked like she was having trouble breathing. "N-Nurse? What's wrong with her? Why does she look like that?" Weisslogia looked startled from his wife to Claire as the Nurse whisked his daughter out of his hands._

"_What? What happened? What's wrong?"_

_The nurse took Claire to her hands and excused herself to check her health in another room while the couple sat tersely, waiting for answers. In moments, the Nurse was back with a grave look on her face._

"_I'm – I'm sorry, I'm afraid I have bad news."_

* * *

"_Tch," _

_Weisslogia cursed, throwing an empty can of soda to the alley, scowling. _

_"With Claire ill, she can't be the heiress of the Eucliffe family. And she won't be able to handle it if the other relatives involve her in their petty political games..." He suddenly, growled and ruffled his hands through his hair._

_"Argh!_ _I hate this!" He cursed again._

_As he turned the corner, he bumped into a boy with short spiked blonde hair and dark green eyes. _

_"Oi! Ya brat, watch where you're going!"_

_The boy twitched, and growled, baring his teeth. _

_"Shut up ya, old man! You're the one who should watch where you're going!" He retorted and kept walking, hands shoved in his pockets, shoulders slouched._

_Weisslogia was taken aback by the vehemence of the boy's response, but was surrised when he saw the world weary eyes he sported. _

_"Hey, you got some kinda problem, kid?"_

_The boy clicked his tongue in annoyance, and rolled his eyes, stopping for a moment to glance back at him. _

_"Didn't I tell you to fuck off? It's none of your business"_

_That was it_

_That hit the mark_

_Here he was, trying to be nice and he got a 'Fuck off, none of your business' as a reply?_

_He narrowed his eyes, but tried to hide his anger. _

_"He, didn't your parents ever teach you to be polite?"_

"_What good is a parent if they don't even know you exist?" He said shrugging, _

_"Tch, look why don't you just leave me alone? You don't even know me, so what's it to you whether I have problems or bad manners?" _

_Damn it, fine. No more Mister Nice Guy, he was going to give this kid a solid beating._

"_You damn brat..."_

_The boy ran as soon as Weisslogia advanced and he sighed. He lost his temper all too easily. He hadn't even registered the boy's remark about his parents. 'So he's abandoned, huh...'_

_Weisslogia was about to turn back, until he saw a group of kids with rocks on their hands running in the same direction where the boy had just gone. He suddenly had a very bad feeling._

* * *

**[With Sting]**

_Sting huffed, and crossed his arms as he sat on a bench in the park. What was with that old man? Acting like he actually cared about whatever my problems would be._

_He sighed tiredly and rubbed his eyes. He hadn't had any sleep for the past two days and already dark black circles had appeared under his eyes. His eyes fluttered closed against his will, though he tried to stay awake. He didn't want to sleep in a place like this. Not in public especially._

_They would only stare him._

_How he hated the stares._

_But his body went against him and demanded the sleep._

_Giving in to his desire to sleep, he laid on the bench, crossing his arms under his head. Yawning, he closed his eyes and let sleep overtake him, before a rock suddenly collided with his temple._

"_Ouch!" He cursed sitting up and rubbing his bruised temple._

_A group of kids, all averaging ages in their teens, had ganged up on him, he could see, armed with rocks. The tallest one, probably the leader, laughed arrogantly, followed by the others. _

_"Not so strong without your parents to save you huh? Oh who am I'm kidding, your parents wouldn't save you, your parents never really cared about you at all!" He taunted, hoping to strike a nerve._

_Sting got up languidly, staring at them unimpressed as he stretched his hands in front of him. _

_"Ho~ ganging up on one person? How pathetic is that?"_

_They looked annoyed and waved the rocks threateningly. _

"_Shut up" The leader hissed. "It's not as if you're can fight us all."_

"_And what makes you so confident I can't?" Sting glared at him. "You know nothing about me."_

"_What ever, like we care what a little lonely abandoned boy can do!" They laughed in unison, before lobbing the rocks at him. Sting's gaze stayed at the ground, arms up to protect himself from the onslaught. He ran to them, unheeding of the rocks whizzing by and occasionally hitting him. He reached them and was about to punch, before a hand caught him as a fist came in contact with the leader's face._

_Sting eyes widened, it was the man from earlier!_

_"So, you l__ike picking on the weak huh? And it's 10 vs. 1 too! Laaaameeeee."_

_5 minutes passed and the man had quickly incapacitated the violent teenagers who lay around him, groaning. The man looked at him and surprisingly, he looked annoyed. _

_"You idiot! Why don't you call for help or something? Or at least pay them back!"_

"_Wha—Shut up! It's not like I can ask for any help! I'm not worth anything to anyone here. Why would someone save something worthless? They all want me to disappear anyway! I can't do anything about it!" Sting yelled, finally fed up._

_The man sighed, and pulled out a handkerchief. _

_"Here." Sting accepted reluctantly and wiped the blood from his cheek. "Oi, kid. What's your name?"_

"_...Sting" Sting grunted, wincing as he probed a cut on his shoulder. "I guess I should ask, what's yours?"_

"_The name's Weisslogia Eucliffe." Weisslogia sighed, "You have nowhere to go now, huh?"_

_Sting abruptly nodded._

_Weisslogia ruffled the boy's hair, while grinning. "I like you, how about we be a family?"_

_He was shocked; no one ever wanted him to be a part of their family. Was this just a bluff? As if he had read his mind, Weisslogia shook his head, laughing at the look on the boy's face._

"_This isn't a joke, my daughter would love you. She was just born and she has some terrible disease, you know? And I kind of need someone to take care of her and succeed my family name." Weisslogia smiled. "What do you say?"_

_Sting tried to act nonchalant He didn't want to seem too excited. _

_"Yeah, why not."_

* * *

***Rogue's Story***

_Rogue ran away from the orphanage._

_Why would he want to stay? Why hould anyone want to be hated by all of the kids there and be feared for no reason?_

_Not Rogue, he had enough of it. Despite being only 5, he was a bit too mature for his age. His thinking surpasses the others of his age group, making him be the center of envy in the orphanage. Ad with his blood red eyes, he scared them, even the sisters feared him and called him a 'demon' behind his back._

_His stomach then growled, to his annoyance. It was 3 A.M and he hadn't eaten breakfast yet; should he steal some food? He thought, but wouldn't that be illegal?_

_Rogue decided he didn't care, as the saying went, it was survival of the fittest out here._

_He became a pick-pocket and a scavenger for food to ensure his survival. After considerable experience, his speed, hearing, and other senses had greatly increased, making him a formidable foe and enabling him to live comfortably. He began to be more cautious now though, someone had seen him steal food, and he didn't know if that man who saw him told the police or not._

_Rogue pulled his hood down, making sure it covered his face completely and stood on the cold ground. For the past two months and a half, he had been living in an alley. And it was now February, still winter. Luckily for the little pickpocket, he had stole someone's wallet and had gotten some money to buy some clothes that managed to keep him warm, and also, some disguises if he ever got caught. _

_"One thousand yen," He counted the amount of money in a boy's wallet after he swiping it on the way back from buying the clothes._

_It didn't matter whether it was a woman, a kid, or an elder, as long as he could get money; no one was off limits to him._

_He knew that on the streets and in the world, money was everything._

_His throat felt dry, and he decided to steal some water._

* * *

**[With Skiadrum]**

_The man who had long neat dark blue hair ending at his neck with violet sharp eyes lay on his queen-sized bed, his right rough hand hid his eyes from the sunlight from the window. He relaxed himself, lately; he had been over-working himself, making him tired as hell._

_Skiadrum let out a hardly audible sigh, blowing the dark blue hair up. _

_"I need rest."_

_He decided, he would take a day off from his work and take a stroll in the city. Changing clothes from his former ruffled up shirt, he changed it into a neat stroked crème shirt. He unbuttoned the two buttons below the next and grabbed a muffler. He took a black coat and his keys then went out, leaving a note that he would be back at nightfall if not sooner._

_Skiadrum didn't even bother to tell his wife; they weren't on good terms after all._

* * *

"_Os Skiadrum! Long time no see!" A thirty year old man with red blazing hair and black onyx eyes greeted him, scent of tobacco around him strong. Skiadrum frowned._

"_Senritsu, are you smoking again?"_

_Senritsu grinned sheepishly, "You caught me! Sorry, I'll light up the fan right now."_

"_So, Skiadrum, how ya been?" He asked, serving the man a cold beer. "You haven't been here lately, busy much?"_

_Skiadrum nodded at his long friend._

_Senritsu was kind of a 'co-worker' for him, but that was in the past. Senritsu now worked as a simple bartender. Sometimes, Skiadrum visited the bar to drink and to talk to him and he could drink the most heavyweight drinkers under the table so that he bills he racked were pretty high._

_"I feel like I'm drowning in __paper work." Skiadrum sighed heavily._

"_How 'bout you quit your job?"The question was jovial and the tone, teasing._

_He rolled his eyes, "Don't be stupid Senritsu, you know I can't do that—"_

"_Come back here you thief!"_

_Both of the guys looked outside the window, where there were two males chasing down a boy who carried two bottles of water. Skiadrum stood up and paid the bill, leaving at once._

"_Hey wait! Skiadrum!" Senritsu called after him, but said man didn't turn back even once. He ran a hand through his hair and cracked a wry smile._

_"Geez, t__hat man never changes."_

* * *

**[With Rogue]**

_Rogue couldn't believe what just happened, he had never been caught stealing before yesterday, but he still managed to fool them. But as he had grabbed the bottle of mineral water and was calmly walking outside; there was suddenly a shout of; "You thief!"_

_The boy cursed mentally, he had to found a way to get away from this salesman. He already called the police and was chasing Rogue right nowand though the cops didn't pull out their guns on him ( for which he was pretty thankful), it still did not, however, change the situation. If he got caught, it was over, he would be sent to jail for shoplifting and though the sentence would short since the items lifted were inconsequential, it would severely hurt his reputation on the street and would make him a target for a lot of unsavory characters that would have otherwise left him alone._

_Left, right, right, jump, left, stop._

_It's a dead end._

"_Surrender yourself, boy!" The rough voice of a policeman sounded behind him, clearly sleepdeprived, which didn't help his situation in the least. An annoyed cop wasn't very cooperative._

_He pulled out a pair of handcuffs and walked towards Rogue._

_Until a hand caught his._

"_...I was drinking in peace just now, and here, I hear your loud-ass voice. Keep it down, will you?" A man who Rogue didn't know said, or rather, demanded._

"_H-he stole some water!" The shopkeeper yelled indignantly._

"_S-skiadrum..." The policeman stuttered, he knew the man at first glance. If this guy told you to do something, you did it. And if you knew what was good for you, you would do it fast._

_Skiadrum sighed, "How much?"_

"_Eh?"_

"_I said, how much are the two bottles of water?" He repeated, in a cold and rather bored voice._

_They blinked, "I-it's seven hundred yen.."_

_Skiadrum handed over the money, and dismissed them. He looked out of the corner of his eye to the boy in the tattered clothes. _

_"I'm guessing you're wondering why I helped you?"_

_Rogue remained silent, but Skiadrum shrugged and continued. _

_"Like I said, it was noisy and I do not like annoying noises. Also, I do not like seeing a helpless boy being chased by police."_

_Rogue felt an irritation building inside him when the man referred him as a 'helpless boy'._

"_But...I do like a boy's strength, ambition, determination to survive." Skiadrum's mouth curved into a barely-there smile._

"_For a boy at your age, you're quite mature. You will definitely be a good heir to my inheritance."_

_His crimson eyes widened and his gaze snapped up to meet his in shock._

_A hand came into his field of vision; he looked from it to Skiadrum's amused face. "Come to my place."_

_Rogue stood there, frozen, unable to think or comprehend this sudden turn of events._

_Skiadrum didn't wonder about the boy's reaction, it must be very shocking indeed. In fact, he was shocked himself, to think that he would adopt a kid..._

_But looking at him, he felt as if the boy were already his son. He felt that this was the boy who would understand him like no one else had ever been able to. They were cut from the same mold and like in that old tale of Red Strings, they were connected. Connected as friends, and as father and son._

_And his eyes, it were bright and pure, Skiadrum was certain that the boy would be fit to inherit his fortune._

"_..Who are you?" Rogue asked, when common sense started coming back to him, albeit slowly._

_Skiadrum smiled, "I'm Skiadrum" Feeling a hand grasped his hand, he softened his gaze at the kid._

"_Your new father"_

* * *

Sting reeled from the shock. He had thought it was finally over. That he would never have to feel the pain of having someone important being snatched away from him, but here he was again. Being threatened to lose the most important thing in the world to him.

The first time he felt that, it was when he'd been abandoned by his parents.

The second time was when his foster father, Weisslogia, died.

He had hoped that it was the last time he would be forced to feel that way, but apparently he was wrong.

"I told you that the Eucliffe household was rigged to explode and all I would have to do to blow it sky high, would be to push this button here." Jiemma explained, idly waving the remote with large red button on it in front of them. "And...Just now, while you weren't paying attention, living in your little world of failure, I pushed it."

"Meaning that Claire was in the house when it went down." Rogue finished for him bitterly.

Sting finally found his voice, and shouted fiercely at him.

"You bastard! How could you?! You gave your word! We weren't finished fighting!"

"Our motto is 'Winning is everything, lose and you'll pay for it' does that answer your question?"

"Claire was just a girl! She had nothing to do with this! How could you just do that, damnit!" Sting retorted, the feeling of helplessness was driving him to hysteria.

"...But she's an important person to the both of you, which means that she _does__, _in fact, have something to do with this." Jiemma chuckled.

* * *

_Sting found himself blinking at the sight of his new house. It was HUGE! Like, really huge!_

"_Like it?" Weisslogia laughed at Sting's wide eyed look. _

_"This is Eucliffe Manor after all!"_

_Sting rolled his eyes at his foster father, trying to cover up his nervousness. He was about to meet his new family after all. _

_"Shut up, old man." An angry tic appeared on the man's head but he forged ahead._

"_Now, let's meet my beautiful born daughter, Claire!"_

_When Sting met the crying baby, who laughed and cried in happiness, he instantly felt a connection to her and vowed right then and there as he witnessed that pure untainted innocence in her, that he would protect her for as long as he lived._

* * *

_Sting met Rogue eventually, and soon they were already 10. Being ten, Sting was already engaged to Lucy Heartfilia, much to his annoyance. They were in their room with their 'sister'. Rogue met Sting one month after Skiadrum found him and adopted him, both of them instantly became friends, sensing a brotherhood between them. After all, they had grown up in a similar medium of isolation. Rogue had also made the acquaintance of his younger sister, Claire, whom he found, he quite liked. She was a small innocent little thing, with big wide eyes that made it hard to refuse her anything she wanted._

"_Rogue-san, can you please play the violin?" Claire pleaded, pouting prettily._

_Claire was a pale skinned, skinny five year old girl with long soft silver hair to her back. Her eyes were round and cute with the color of golden, with long eyelashes. She often wore this outfit of a dark blue dress, styled gothic Lolita, which gave her a cute yet lady-like impression. _

_Rogue grabbed his violin from its place in the corner of the room and positioned himself accordingly. _

_"I don't mind but, Claire, why do you want me to play it?" He was more than willing to play it for the young girl though._

_Claire smiled gently. "Because your melody is the best I have ever heard! It always relaxes my heart and mind...It's truly beautiful."_

_Rogue hid his smile as Sting grinned. Rogue then played a tune._

* * *

"Natsu Dragneel..." Jiemma called.

Natsu, snapped out of his own thought of beating Jiemma into pulp, growled. "What?!"

"I'm sure you know Lucy Heartfilia right?"

"Of course you dimwitted mustache man!" He scowled. Jiemma twitched at the new nickname but shrugged it off.

"Are you sure you should be lollygagging around here when Lucy is.._missing_ as it were." Jiemma grinned maniacally at him.

Natsu's eyes grew huge, realizing Lucy was nowhere to be seen.

"Wha-?! Where's Lucy?! What did you do, you psycho!"

Jiemma remained silent, though he cracked a grin at Natsu that he decided he definitely didn't like.

"You bastard! Give Lucy back!" Natsu yelled, looking around him, trying to find clues to where she could be.

"Go...Natsu-san..." Sting mumbled, loud enough for Natsu to hear though his voice was breaking. Natsu glanced at Sting, who clenched his fist tightly, and spoke through gritted teeth. "She's...most likely with Jude-san right now, on the other side of this mountain, there's a safe house. They'll probably be in there."

"...And you?" He asked, knowing full well that both inside and outside, they were in no condition to fight.

"...We'll hold him back. You two just hurry; don't let...don't let Lucy get hurt again. She's important to us too." Rogue breathed, holding his injured shoulder and placing himself between Natsu and Jiemma.

There was a moment of tense silence.

Natsu nodded, "Got it, I'll definitely bring her back! Gajeel!"

"Already way ahead of you, Salamander."

Before they parted ways, Natsu glanced at them. "Both of you! I don't know who that Claire person is but I'm sure that she can't be dead. If she's related to you, then I know she won't give up on life that easily. At least I hope so anyway..." Gajeel smacked at him upside the head at that. ("_Idiot!") _Natsu grinned anyways, rubbing his head and smacking Gajeel back.

"Anyway, when we finish this war, we're going to help ya guys! We'll search for her and all that, ya know? So make sure you live you jackasses!"

And Natsu and Gajeel raced out of sight.

Rogue and Sting sighed, "Maa, that insufferable man is right, we have to keep living...for Claire's sake."

"Jiemma...This time, we won't lose" Rogue declared determinedly.

Glancing at where their former comrades were headed, they thought of the same thing. A hidden smile flitted by ever so slightly on their features.

_Those idiotic fools..._

* * *

_A/N: Hey guys~ This is only an announcement, ya' see, someone had make a funny competition called "The Best Fanfic of 2012"_

_And some people nominated my story, Letters to a Prisoner! God, I was just soooo happy! Therefore, I need you guys to help me! If you want, pleassee participate in that competition! Please? With cherry on top?_

_After OoComputerFreakoO (The one who made it) finished on PM-ing all of the authors, she will put on a list of nominees in her fanfic, Best Fanfic of 2012 as the second chapter and the voting will start!_

_PLEASE PARTICIPATE IN IT! THANK YOU VERY MUCH! But it's only for the readers of Letters to a Prisoner, but you can read it! For further information, I guess you can ask her. Here's the link of her profile: : / / w w w . u / / (remove the spaces)_

* * *

__**Reviews:**

******Christalish: **I'm glad that I made this good~ Seriously, this is my first NaLu fic with a bit slow romance (but there would be!) Haha, I was just really not in the mood yesterday when I wrote about that reviews and stuff, I was really pissed off by something that happened in school! And...yeah, I kinda..can't control my emotions to well and wrote the author's note a bit weird and stuff! But it seems that you agree with me X3. Thank you for your support~

**GoldenRoseTanya: **I guess that you like using "OOHHHMY GODD" huh? lol XD

**Rose Princess: **Dun dun dun...did this chapter answered you questions? Haha, I really do love making plot twists to beware~

**Minallys: **Glad to hear that you're still reading this fic ^^ Good luck in high school! Also, we'll see later if this is going to make it~ But I sure hope so!

**CupcakeGirl633: **So the preview made you think that Lucy's dead huh? XD Well, she's not! But is it more interesting if she's _really _dead? If you think so, I have to make her go die and stuff XD BUT I DON"T WANNA! So, she'll survive for sure ^_^ GO Natsu! This chapter focuses in Sting's and Rogue's past, alongside with their bonds. You'll see more of these kind of flashbacks in later chapters! Oh, you know that Rogue and Sting want to fight Gajeel and Natsu so badly, so they had to fight them! While Lucy, she know that she can't stop them from fighting :)

**Guest:** Thanks!

**shortypink: **Thank you~ Don't worry, I have to get used by those kind of comments after all! Besides, pointing other mistakes may help them to get better!

**Kitsuri Harumi: **I'll continue for sure :D So far, this fic is my favorite~

* * *

_A/N: Thanks for reading, and thank you to Mariya567! She told that this chapter is great! And the flashbacks really put well with the story~! God, I was sooo happy!_

_I may now update quite late! Because I have extra lessons for an exam! Me, being a sixth grader is going to have an exam soon enough! Wish me luck, ne?  
_

_Review please~ Ciao!  
_


	12. Chapter 11

**Mission 11; It's finally...over**

* * *

Natsu and Gajeel barreled through the mountainside, practically screaming in frustration. Rogue's directions were deceptively easy. The fact of the matter was that try as they might, the men could find neither hide nor hair of the alleged cabin where Lucy was being held captive. The only building they had come across in their search had yielded nothing but a very scared mechanic who would now have to repair the garage door of his home.

Natsu groaned and ruffled a hand through his already messy and sweaty hair.

"AHH! Where the hell are they?!"

"Shut _up_, Salamander. If I could, I'd finish this quickly so I won't have to breathe in the same air as you." Gajeel snapped back irately.

"What?! I dare you to say that again Metal Boy!"

"Gladly. You disgust me and I want you outta my face."

"You-!" He was cut off as Gajeel held up his hand, listening intently to something in the otherwise silent forest.

"Oi, Salamander, did you heard that?" Gajeel, with his sensitive hearing, could have sworn that he heard screaming and shouting from the other side of a large range of redwood trees.

Natsu blinked and focused on the voices ringing faintly in his ears.

"...You're right..." If he listened closely, it sounded as if the voice were saying;

"_Let me go..!"_

His onyx eyes grew wide, fist clenching, he breathed out her name.

"Lucy...that's gotta be Lucy's voice!"

Gajeel smirked; they had finally found the place. Cracking his knuckles and neck, he laughed his usual 'Gihihi' laugh.

"Looks like we've hit jackpot Salamander." Natsu rolled his shoulders, loosening himself up for a fight, the he grinned.

"You're right. Let's go collect some prize money."

* * *

After Lucy was caught by Jiemma, she had been brought to this place and been hand cuffed to a rickety, old, wooden chair. Jiemma had left her with her father soon after he had brought her there. Her only solace so far was the fact that he would be seriously pissed that his Mafioso's were losing. And losing badly.

Lucy glanced at her father, who coughed silently to gain her attention. Biting her lips, she yelled, in the hopes that someone would hear her.

"Let me go...!"

"...Lucy, you are truly an ungrateful child." Jude started, completely ignoring his daughter's derisive snort, as his anger slowly gained momentum and volume. "You ruined the wedding...you had only played along, the Heartphilias would have been richer than never before! You could have been happy, with all that money, what more do you want?" He roared at her. He sighed then, and rubbed two fingers into his temple.

"You are important to me, Lucy. That was why, when you first met with those Fairy Tail delinquents, I immediately sent a mission to two mafia families that were more than happy to tear Fairy Tail apart. Those two mafia families agreed to the mission and the second Mafia War started, and it appeared that you had lost your memories of all that time. All of your memories about Fairy Tail..."

"_**Blondie~ we finally found you..."**_

"_**Take her away."**_

Her eyes widened frantically, the sudden memory invading her mind. She really did have amnesia. Her father continued on telling her about her rebellion, but she didn't listen at all. Her mind was elsewhere; many things truly had happened at the war. Lucy desperately tried to grasp at the faint wisps of memory that teased the outer edges of her mind. And with her father blathering on in the background, it was even more difficult.

"Anyways, you're in no position to—"

"_Shut up._"

Jude raised a questioning eyebrow, looking amusedly at her, despite the disrespectful tone language.

"Tsk, tsk..Language, dear child."

"Ha! You're calling me your dear child now? After everything you've done to me? You must be delusional." Lucy laughed condescendingly at the man she once called her father.

"You _are_ my daughter, Lucy. And nothing will change that. Keep that in mind you foolish girl."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I stopped being your daughter the moment I stepped foot out of that house. I was never Lucy Heartphilia. I was _always_ Lucy of Fairy Tail."

There was a brief moment of silence.

"Maybe...if you hadn't called Sabertooth to do all of this; if you hadn't put my friends in danger and caused a Mafioso wide war, _maybe _I could still _forgive _you. But now, I have no more forgiveness in me." Lucy gritted her teeth, jerked her arms up behind her back, managing to break the rickety chair in two. Jude stared at his daughter, stupefied. Even with her arms locked behind her back, Lucy was able to knock the feet out from under father and send him crashing to the ground. He was not a seasoned fighter, and nor was he young, which made him an easy target for the young woman. The sight of the once powerful man, someone she used to fear greatly, sprawled on the ground made her sad, even though she knew she had done the right thing.

Lucy smiled bitterly, crouching on the ground in front of him. "This is goodbye forever... father."

At the same time, the door broke open with a loud crash and the sounds shouting of two voices she recognized very well. Lucy saw Natsu and Gajeel, as always, fighting with each other. She sighed as a smile found its way to her lips.

"You two..." She shook her head wryly, and managed to look amused, despite the fact that her arms were still cuffed.

"Ara? Lucy? YOU'RE FINE!" Natsu almost glomped her in joy.

"Of course I'm fine, Natsu. I don't need you to save me every time." She tsked, although the smile stayed.

Gajeel looked behind Lucy, "Oi Bunny girl." He returned to using his specially made nickname for her.

"Your father?" He nodded to the sprawled figure on the ground behind her.

Lucy replied simply, not going into the specifics.

"Yeah, it's all over now...it's...finally over.."

"What?! But we didn't get to fight!" Natsu complained as he broke the hand cuffs off her.

"Oh I'd say you've had _more_ than enough of your share of fighting you two." The two men gulped suddenly, recognizing the deadly aura emanating from the woman in front of them as she rubbed her chafed wrists. "Rogue and Sting were our _allies_ and you wasted time fighting _them_ when we could have been MILES away by now and sitting safe at Fairy Tail!"

"B-but they started it!"

No matter what anyone said, it was a well known fact in Fairy Tail, that every single Mafioso would rather fight the boss of an Illegal Mafia, than tangle with Lucy. She was worse than every nightmare put together if you got her mad.

* * *

"You all...quickly, go over there! We have to quickly find any remaining survivors! And arrest the man who's behind all of this!" A teenage girl with wavy shoulder length red hair, her side bangs tied into a small braid shouted instructions to large group of people. Her big crimson orbs looked sharp and menacing as she surveyed her followers work.

The girl wore a black simple leather jacket with silver chains dangling. Underneath her leather jacket was a dark blood red loose T-shirt. In addition, she wore a red pleated skirt and black leggings with a knee length boots.

She sighed at the sight in front of her. The Eucliffe Estate was a mess! It was probably from an explosion, and if her suspicions were right, she knew who was behind it too.

_~Tuut~_

Her ringtone rang, and she quickly opened her hand phone to see her relative calling her. Sighing deeply, she answered it.

"Hello?"

"_Yo~ Marianne, am I'm bothering you?"_

"Let's see, I am currently in front of a destroyed Estate and am stressed out of my mind. Does that answer your question?" Marianne answered acidly, one hand massaging her temples.

"_Being the right hand man of Fairy Tail's boss isn't easy, huh?"_

She scoffed, "Hell no. Alright, you never call me for shits and giggles bro. What's the problem?"

"_Heh..yeah, about that...we kinda got into a war...And we maybe sorta need you to arrest Jude Heartfillia for starting it..."_

"You got into a war?" Marianne said sharply, a strangely dangerous aura surrounding her. "You!...Do you understand what that means? When I got back there, I am going to put your sorry ass through the wringer. With daddy's help of course." Marianne took malicious delight in her brother's groan over the phone.

"_...Shit. Yeah, well, you know Jude was the one who blew up Eucliffe Manor...well, technically that mustache man is the one though...but...the client is responsible for all the missions he send out to the Mafia so..."_

She sighed, "I got it, I'll be there in a few."

"_Also...if you can, check if there are some remaining survivors there..."_

The hesitation in her brother's voice made her pause. Was there someone in the estate that he knew?

"...Sure, I'll check it out. Be right there, okay? I, Marianne Dragneel, daughter of Igneel Dragneel and the right hand man of Fairy Tales boss will find anyone who survived! You can count on it."

* * *

_December 25th 18.00 p.m_

"With this, the war is over! And better yet, we won! You are dismissed! Now lets party!" Natsu grinned and everyone cheered. Marianne had come fast and arrested Jude and given a strict warning to the Sabertooth Mafiosos, and then suddenly, it was all over. Lucy laid her head down on her hands on the bar, tired of all the things that had happened.

_Speaking of which, where are Rogue and Sting? _She thought absent mindedly. _Oh well, they must need some time to adjust too, I guess._

_**Flash back**_

_A girl with red hair and crimson eyes showed up at the war and declared that it was over. She had called the police already and they had arrested Jude for interference of human rghts will endangerment of the populace._

"_Rogue Cheney, and Sting Eucliffe, right?" She called the bruised two males. They glanced at her, acknowledging. Marianne introduced herself after that and had a frown on her face._

"_I'm sorry to say this, but there were no survivors of the explosion at Eucliffe Manor..."_

Her lips pursed and looked sadly at the counter, "I don't even know the girl but..."

A hand slung over her shoulder.

"Yo~ Lucy!" Natsu, with the usual grin on his face said, though he looked slightly drunk.

"Natsu..."

"Mira-san, I'll borrow Lucy for a while. Okay? Is that fine?"

Mira Jane nodded, and took out two coats for them to go out.

* * *

The cold breeze grazed Lucy's skin softly, making her shiver slightly. "Where are we going?" She asked her boss.

Natsu scratched his cheek. "well...uh, we already arrived though!"

It was the city park.

Natsu pat the ground beside him, asking Lucy to join him. Lucy sat at the grass and relaxed herself.

"So? What's up? What are we doing here?"

"Well...uh, Luce!" Natsu pulled out a rose from his pocket. It was a pink rose. "Ahaha...Sorry, It was reeeally sudden so I can't buy any other present than this...Merry Christmas, Lucy!" Natsu said, suddenly very shy.

Lucy was taken aback, it was true, it's Christmas. But she herself didn't even remember due to the trouble that had happened. Her lips curled up into a smile, a genuine one, as she slowly grasped the flower. "Thank you, Natsu."

Said man laughed and turned his head to the other side,refusing to let Lucy see his blushing face. "Aha~ Well—Lucy, look above!"

She did as he said and gaped at the sight. "Meteorites..."

"I heard that a meteor shower was going to happen today! I remembered you once said that you wanted to see one so..." Natsu said.

"..I...wanted to see this?"

"Yeah."

Lucy couldn't help but smile. She was touched that Natsu, had remembered something so trivial. She giggled softly and put a hand on his shoulder. "Natsu, we better head back...and...Thank you."

"Lucy, there's another surprise waiting for you!" Natsu informed her, holding the door knob of their head quarters before they went in.

"What? There's more?"

"Yup!"

He opened the door with a flourish, and what awaited her was Fairy Tail decked from the ceiling to floors with tinsel and holly wreaths, Christmas lights, crystals and fake snow. Even so, in the center of it all, a giant sign hug from the ceiling that read,

_Welcome Back Lucy of Fairy Tail! We Love You!_

"It's good to have you back Lucy"

Unconsciously, she brought the rose to her nose inhaled its scent and her brown eyes took in the beauty of the flower.

_It smells like Natsu._

The pink rose made her remember Natsu, pink hair, pink petals.

_Truly...I thank you for everything you had given to me..._

**~To be continued**

* * *

_**A/N: I finally finished this chapter .w.  
**_

_**Special thanks for Mariya567!  
**_

_**THERE is AN IMPORTANT POLL IN MY PROFILE, PLEASE VOTE IN IT! IT INVOLVES WITH THIS STORY! Thank you ._.  
**_

* * *

Reviews:

CupcakeGirl633: XD I won't make her die, that's a promise. Thanks! I'm glad that Claire in your vision is nice ^^ I'm even sad that she's dead (even though I'M the one who wrote it.) Realistic? Yay! I tried to do that :)

shortypink: =)

sereneskydragonslayer: Gomen ne ^^" Claire is not alive :(

Takamiya Sakura: I understand :) School is quite important!

* * *

_**I said that I don't mind at the reviews thingy, but if you can, I beg you to review...**_

_**Review please, and don't forget that there's a poll in my profile, it would close when this story reach 100 reviews (if it can) but maybe I'll extend it  
**_


	13. Chapter 12

**Mission 12: Funeral**

* * *

On December 29th, the funeral for Claire Eucliffe was held. All of the Fairy Tail members attended it, and of course, Sting and Rogue as the people hit hardest by her loss.

They did not cry even once though.

The atmosphere was tense, silent, dark, and hard.

Rogue Cheney put his old violin at the grave as Sting Eucliffe put a yellow rabbit plush doll.

"_Onii-chan, Rogue-san!" The girl called them with her sweet melodic voice. Her silvery bangs put into a small braid as she put into a smile. "Here."_

"_What is this?" Both of the males asked, looking at the plush dolls confusedly. Rogue's was a black cat and Sting's was a yellow rabbit._

_It was rather poorly made, but it was still lovely._

_Claire giggled, "Glad you asked! It's my present for you two!"_

"_.. Present?" Rogue asked, fingering the ears atop the plush doll._

"_Hai! Present. Keep it ok?"_

_Rogue and Sting noticed the bandages on her fingers and shrugged it off, thinking that she must be the one that made it. "Sure, we'll take good care of it, Imouto"_

Natsu was suddenly pushed to the forefront of the crowd, next to Sting and Rogue.

Sting noticed him fidgeting and raised an eyebrow.

"What's the matter, Natsu?"

"Eh...eto...what was I supposed to say again?"

Rogue shook his head in defeatedly.

"I'm guessing that you want to say something to Claire's grave."

"..."

Natsu nodded.

"Then, go ahead."

Natsu took a deep breath before he spoke.

"Uh..hey. Claire, right? I'm Natsu. This is kind of awkward, `cause I`ve never spoken like this at a funeral. I guess, I should say, um.. how's it going up there?'

_SMACK!_

"Ouch! That hurt, Lucy!" He whined, then coughed into his fist, "Uh, what was I supposed to say again? I'm sorry that we weren't able to save you...but I feel like you were a brave person to stand up to Jiemma. Even though we barely even knew you, we can feel that you were a kind hearted person, and you didn't deserve to die like this and so young. Which is why, Jude Heartfillia is jailed for life while the Sabertooth mafia family is suspended for 6 months, according to the Government`s official statements. But we came to tell you something."

Natsu glanced at his comrades and nodded, "Rogue and Sting are joining our family!"

Both Rogue and Sting's heads snapped up in shock.

"Wha—Natsu-san?!"

"Natsu Dragneel...what the hell?"

Natsu ignored both of them, "Well, the fastest way for them to join and get a job is joining Fairy Tail! We don't care whether he or she was once a criminal or not, a comrade is a comrade, and we never leave anyone behind!"

"...!" The two Mafioso in question were stupefied and could do nothing but stare at the insane man in front of them.

His usual grin came out, "We'll take care of them well! Don't worry about them, all right? Rest in peace, Claire Eucliffe, your brothers are in good hands."

* * *

Rogue and Sting went home afterwards, clothes wet from the storm.

"Meow!"

Their and Frosch, meowed in front of them, waiting for them to come back home, as they often did.

They smiled gently. Crouching to pat the cat's head, Rogue heard the soft purr coming from Frosch.

Sting carried Lector on his arms, and brushed the dirt at the cat's fur.

"Meow!"

"_Purr."_

_Sting grinned, "She looks like a cat and sounded like one!"_

_Rogue agreed. "Claire, wake up."_

_She made noises., "Five more minutes..."_

"_You're going to be late!"_

"_EH?!"_

"_Joking, your school doesn't start until an hour later."_

"_Mou, Nii-chan, don't do that!"_

_Sting smirked, "Aha! But I need you to be awake."_

"_Why?"_

"_We brought you a present, something you would definitely love."_

_Claire tilted her head in confusion._

_And a cat—Angora, was in her arms._

"_Happy Birthday, dear sister."_

Rogue frowned at the memory. On the other hand, Sting just went to bed and trying to think about what had just transpired in the last 24 hours.

She was so innocent and pure, why did she have to die? This wasn't even her fight.

* * *

_Claire stirred in her sleep, her face peaceful. Her red and puffy cheeks were still visible and stains of tears still linger on it._

_Rogue brushed the girl's silver hair with his hands, "It must be tough...to hear that her parents are now gone..." The maid whispered._

_He shrugged, he himself felt the same, but he had long since stopped crying._

"_But, I think she'll be fine." She suddenly said._

_Rogue raised an eyebrow at her._

_She smiled sweetly, "Because you two—Young Master Sting and young master Rogue are beside her."_

"_And that applies to the two of you too. If ever, Kami-sama forbid, Claire-chan died, you two are still beside her and her heart will always be with you."_

"_...She won't die, me and Sting will protect her from any danger that comes our way."_

_She giggled, "Agreed."_

Rogue chuckled.

"It's true...I won't mourn forever, Claire wouldn't want that." Frosch purred beside him. "Let's go to sleep, Frosch."

* * *

Breaking down

Sting Eucliffe was doing just that.

Rolling from his bed, he grabbed the portrait that he kept on it. It was of him and Claire, smiling cheerfully. He remembered that they took the picture in the Estate gardens the day Claire turned seven.

"_Sting-nii, let's take a picture!"_

"_? Sure, I don't mind...But why so suddenly?"_

_Claire giggled, "So I'll always remember this moment. Today is the day when you came to the Estate as a family right? I want to treasure at least one picture."_

_Sigh_

Of course that he knew he couldn't be like this forever, but it was killing him.

He had far too many regrets, if only he could turn back time, he would erase his mistakes and just try to be with Claire more often, he would've even tried harder during the war to save his sister.

"_If you made a mistake..."_

"_Then just forget it! A mistake is a mistake, right? You can't erase it, even if you had a time machine or whatever, your heart wouldn't be put at ease. It would still remember the pain..."_

"_The mind may forget, but the heart never does, remember that."_

Sting secretly smiled at the memory, his father was for once giving him advice about regrets you may have or might have in the future.

"_What will I do when someone important to me dies?" Claire innocently asked. She hummed a melody she was writing and smiled brightly, seemingly unaware of the morbid-ness of such question from someone so young._

"_I guess I would just forget about it. Well no, that's wrong too. I don't mean I would forget the person completely. I would still remember him or her but I won't cling to it. Of course I'll be sad, but... if I keep being sad, then I won't be able to move on! And if that person truly cares about you and vice versa, they wouldn't want you to spend your time mourning, they would want you to think about them once in a while and remember that life is truly too short to spend it frivolously."_

He guessed, that for once, he could follow the girl's advice once for a while.

* * *

**Fairy Tail Guild**

"You two!" Erza blinked, seeing both males entering the building. "You're finally joining. You _are_ joining aren't you?" She asked rather menacingly, pointing a threatening finger at them.

"Y-yeah... we're joining." Rogue said, he`d forgotten that the Titania could pretty intense about the strangest things and in the strangest ways too.

Natsu grinned. "Good! Now, let's get you enter!"

At least, they could be members of the same Mafia that Gajeel and Natsu are in, the former and current idols, nevermind that Natsu was the current boss of the Mafia.

* * *

**On the Rooftop of Fairy Tail**'s** HQ**

"When are we going to do it?"

"I don't know." The other shrugged.

Another sighed, and grinned. "At least..we get to destroy Fairy Tail with bonuses that are high..."

"You're right about that, but now, let's tell Master about this. That Fairy Tail is partying their asses off, just waiting to be destroyed in any minute."

"They won't know what hit 'em."

* * *

_A/N: Uh..hey, long time no see guys..._

_I'M SORRY FOR THE SUPER LONG UPDATE! QAQ It's just that.. I'm...quite busy for the past few days, you know, studying my ass of-"_

* * *

**_Reviews:_**

**_sereneskydragonslayer:_**_ Hey! glad to see you again, yeah, Lucy is __still strong :)_

**_CupcakeGirl633:_**_ Glad you loved it :) I made that to c__elebrate myself, actually, it's almost 100 reviews and I just can't help but squeal at the thought. mI myself thought the ending was adorable too! ^^ Don't know how I got the idea though! It popped in to my mind... Ah, thanks :) But the next chapter will start-the final arc! So it's ending ^^" Probably 5-10 chapters again? Haha_

_Oh, about the poll. Yeah, you should probably know who 'She' is but sure, I'll tell you :) You know when the mafia war started? The fourth boss, Makarov died in that and one person was taken away, then, her memories were erased. AMNESIA. You know what that means, right? Yup! It's the one and only, Lucy Heartfillia :) Probably the oneshot about that would win, I'll explain fully there with the upcoming chapters XD Aww, thanks, you're making me blush. Thanks for your review._

**_shortypink: ^_^_**_  
_

**_Rose Princess:_**_Yup, he was so sweet giving her that :) Sure, girl, though the next chapter would be the final arc of the story!  
_

**_moocow4me:_**_Haha~ The romance IS starting! I'm going to write more in the next chapter :D  
_

**_belladu57:_**_Thanks :)_

**_Christalish:_**_Sure XD Thanks to you too! And here is the chapter~ ^_^_

* * *

_A/N: Thank you to those who voted and reviewed, favoritedm alerted and of course, Mariya567 for beta0ing this!  
_

_The poll is closing when this reachs 100 reviews, I hope. And wish me luck please! I'm in exams week ;w;_

_P.S because I won't be updating the chapter in February 14th...HAPPY EARLY VALENTINE TO YOU ALL! And the one-shot will include an omake about Valentine, you know .w._

**_Ja ne~ Please REVIEW! And thanks for your support_**

**_P.P.S: THIS IS ENTERING THE FINAL ARC GUYS! T_T_**


	14. Chapter 13

_Previously in Who Are You?; Fairy Tail was and still is partying their asses off, not even knowing what would come by next._

**Mission 13:Party Pooper**

"Master, should we go now?" The man in the black coat said, barely glancing at his company for agreement.

The other line scoffed as he answered with a hoarse voice, "_Do what you wantHaru. It's time for me to take revenge."_

Haru smirked, licking his lips hungrily, expression the picture of a bloodthirsty hunter.

"It will be my pleasure Master Ivan."

"Let's go."

A woman in red velvet dress and a long pale strawberry red hair spoke up.

"Haru~ Don't order us around like that, you know it annoys me." The woman put her hand on her hips and pouted at him.

Haru shrugged indifferently.

"Master's orders, Flare. Don't shoot the messenger." His silvery bangs hid both of his emerald eyes, "Besides, I know you like it. " He winked at her, eyes suggestive.

There was a slight tinge of pink dusting over her pale cheeks, but she brushed it off, clearing her throat.

"Let's go already."

Kurohebi and the others nodded, while splitting up to go to the front and back door.

-o-o-o

"And he was like, hey! That's mine!" Macao laughed, telling a story where he had swapped someone's clothes with a circus outfit..

Wakaba chuckled, "Then? What happened next?"

"They were completely confused! Their expressions were priceless!" Romeo cheered.

Lucy sighed, shaking her head.

"Men."

Erza, who sat beside her, nodded. "Why that's even remotely funny is beyond me. And to top it off, they're corrupting Romeo."

The barmaid giggled, "Thank god, Jellal isn't like that, right, Erza?" She teased the redhead.

Erza blushed and focused on her cake as a diversion, refusing to answer the question.

"Mira!" Said woman hummed. Erza heaved out a sigh and stared at Lucy.

"Ne, Lucy, how's it going with Natsu?"

"Eh? It's doing fine, he was being really nice to me though, feels a bit...weird." Lucy said.

"He likes you, that's why!" Lisanna suddenly piped up, shaking her soda at Lucy decisively. "Don't try to deny it, because it's true. Plus, you like him too, right, Lu-chan?"

Lucy grumbled, "As a friend, yes. More than that? No."

"Either way, we still like the pairing; NaLu after all." Mirajane smiled good naturedly at her.

"NaLu?" Lucy cocked her head at the phrase.

"Natsu and Lucy!" Mira looked infinitely proud of the hideous couple name she christened them with.

"Mira-san!" Lucy wrinkled her nose.

Mira laughed, not phased by the look of repulsion that her friend wore in the least.

Suddenly, Natsu crashed into Lucy, screaming curses at the top of his lungs

"Fuck you Gray! And Sting quit helping him!"

It was then that he noticed that he had hit Lucy, taking her with him when heed crashed to the floor.

"...Oops." Sting mumbled from the table. "Oi, Lucy. Ya' alright?" Sting grabbed her by the elbow, helping her back to her feet.

"Ow..." Lucy grumbled, rubbing her sore arms and hands that had taken most of force from the fall.

Natsu glanced at her, patting her shoulder apologetically.

"Sorry, Lucy! It's because of Sting and Gray-"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it! Get away from me." She said irately, pushing him back towards the other two trouble makers.

Natsu did as she said, but not before grabbing her hand and kissing the reddened skin.

Almost all of the members squealed at the sight as Lucy shrieked and yanked her hands back from the confused man,

"Better now?" He asked, oblivious to the fainting women in the background.

"What did you do that for?!" Lucy said, holding her clasped hands to her chest like he had done something scandalous.

"EH? I heard that if you kiss where it hurts, the pain disappears." Natsu reasoned.

She face palmed. Count on Natsu to believe something so stupid.

"Stupid Natsu." She smiled though at the fact that he had tried. "But, thank you."

There was suddenly the tell-tale flash of a camera that alerted Lucy to the fact that someone had taken a picture of them.

"Ya! Who's taking pictures?!" Lucy shouted indignantly, looking for the source.

Levy grinned, showing off her camera.

"That would be me, dearest friend of mine." She stuck her tongue out playfully at her.

"Levy!" Lucy protested. "Delete it right now!" She made a half hearted grab for the camera.

"Aw, Lu-chan, don`t be like that-"

_CRASH!_

The doors to the headquarters were suddenly blown clear off the hinges, knocking some mafia members to the floor and others were completely engulfed in the debris of the demolished doors. In the clearing dust, three figures stood in the opening, looking around in interest.

"Well., well, what do we have here? Some fucking little flies partying. I think I'm going to be sick." One of them cackled.

Another one agreed, "Yeah, but the question is, why are they partying?"

The first hummed, "Easy. To celebrate their last day alive."

All hell broke loose.

-o-o-o

"Who... the hell are you guys?!" Natsu coughed, blood dripping from a gash on his forehead. The ensuing fight from their arrival had been completely one-sided. It was like fighting a bulldozer. The inevitable result had been to be annihilated.

The HQ was a mess, nothing but rubble was left. The members of the family were buried under all the fallen debris, bloodied and bruised.

Fairy Tail hadn't even stood a chance against them. The attack had been so swift and so absolute that it was all they could do to remain conscious.

The silver haired man grinned mischievously,

"You think you have the right to know? I only give my name to those that are actually worth something. And you buddy? You are nothing in front of me."

Natsu clenched his fists, glaring at the man eyes full of hatred.

"You-!"

"How is it? Doesn't this bring back memories? The scent of blood, tears and fear. Ahh the sight makes me shiver. I can hardly wait. I still remember the sight of you pathetic Fairies, crushed and annihilated. Oh yes. I remember it well, even though I was only five at the time."

"War..! Don't tell me, you're from Raven—" Gray coughed, eyes wide, as he struggled to stay conscious under the wreckage of what had used to be the bar.

"Ha-ha, good guess. Yes, we're from Raven Tail. Isn't it amazing? History repeats itself once more. Except this time, you be coming back."

"When your master died and..." Flare continued, enjoying seeing Natsu sprawled on the ground.

Haru grabbed a head of blond hair, and pulled it, dragging Lucy up, who unconsciously grabbed at the hand in her hair, moaning in pain.

"And when this girl was abducted." He licked her cheek, laughing at the strained groans and moans of various members telling him to get away from the woman..

"Let Lucy go!" Natsu growled his voice louder than the rest.

"Geez, keep your pants on will you? You want her? Here." He threw her to him, like she was trash. Natsu only barely made it in time to catch her before she was impaled on a support beam.

"Next time we meet, it will be the last thing you will ever see is the combined forces of Phantom Lord and Raven Tail, and when you do, know that there will be no mercy. Prepare yourselves." Haru spat on the floor and left.

-o-o-o

Silence

No one said a word. They were ashamed of having been over whelmed by merely three people.

Even the loudest one stayed silent while glaring out the window of their second HQ, hidden in the forest surrounding town.

Their home had been destroyed once again.

By the same mafia family again.

_I've finally got the whole story,_Lucy thought bitterly. _My amnesia is fading too. I was a part of Fairy Tail... but my father hated it and paid Phantom Lord and Raven Tail to take Fairy Tail down. And it was. I was taken away by the master of Raven Tail which resulted in me suffering from amnesia because of fear._

_That was the day the previous boss had died_. She trembled involuntarily from fear.

Unable to take the oppressing silence from his members, Natsu turned to them.

"Stop moping around!" Natsu shouted, his body covered in bandages. "We will definitely beat them next time! We just have to believe in ourselves! We'll avenge Makarov—Ojii-chan's..." Tears were threatening to fall as he changed the sentence unable to continue. "We'll win!"

Everyone stared at him, still partially dubious.

"..I guess." People started to murmur

"We should try."

"Yeah, Makarov was like a father to us!"

"Revenge!" The cry for retribution echoed again and again throughout the building.

Natsu smile, glad that he had roused his family from despair.

"Good..."

-o-o-o-o-

"Natsu, you do know that if this goes, it will become the second Mafia war, right?" Erza said arms crossed, leaning on the cold stone wall of the alley where she, Gray and Juvia had convened with Natsu.

Natsu averted his gaze and sighed.

"We'll need help from Lamia Scale, etc... Are you sure about this?" Juvia asked apprehensively.

"..." Natsu sighed, clenching his fist and glared into the night sky.

"I'm sure, even if I die trying, we'll win."

**|To be continued.|**

**-o-o-o-o**

**Special One-shot**

_**Who are You?**_

_The guild wasn't the same after she was taken away, and the grief increased when their fourth boss died. (Fairy Tail)_

It was a peaceful morning as usual in the Head Quarters of the Fairy Tail Building, everyone was happily smiling and joking around.

Five year old Lucy walked to the door and was greeted by smiles of everyone.

"Hi, Lucy! How's it going?"

Lucy nodded, smiling back,

"Im great~!"

They grinned at the cute child and continued with their own activities. The child's brown eyes traveled around the room to search a certain pink haired boy and finally, she found him talking—well, fighting- with Gray Fullbuster.

"Natsu!" She glomped the boy from the back.

Natsu's cheeks went pink as he turned around, disentangling himself from her.

"Luce! You're here!"

Lucy giggled, at his awkwardness.

"Of course! I was waiting for this day! My father has been strict lately." Pouting slightly, though the evidence of her training with her father was evident through her eloquent speech and advanced vocabulary for a five year old. Still, she managed to make him chuckle.

"Anyway, what's going on?"

"As usual, Natsu and Gray fighting over something stupid, though I warned them" Erza sighed behind the two. "You two, if you want to snuggle with each other with love, do it somewhere else."

"Erza!" Both of them shouted in unison, thoroughly embarrassed.

"Ohoho! Youngsters these days are quite bold, huh?" Makarov, the fourth boss laughed from the table, drinking.

"Ojii-chan!" Natsu exclaimed, annoyed that even he was teasing them.

Igneel rolled his eyes, "Oh, just admit that you like Lucy here son! Lying won't get you everywhere!" He laughed.

"Dad!" Natsu turned a fiery shade of red and avoided looking at Lucy.

"Uncle!" Lucy covered her face with her hands.

The usual Fairy Tail was full of warmth, especially when Makarov was there. He always had brighten up the mood in the guild...

Until that day came.

-o-o-o

"Natsu!" Lucy shouted in fear, stretching her hand to her friend. Her eyes were full of tears, as she was taken away from the thing she always loved, Fairy Tail.

It began from a normal day. But two mafia family just had to intrude and declared a war, thus, a war began for days and days... until it reached its climax.

Natsu growned, and looked at the beauty in front of him. He bit his lips and tried to stand up, to no avail. He reached out for her hand, trembling. Their fingers touched, but the man pulled Lucy.

No

He can't let her go!

"It's useless, boy. We're taking her away." The man whispered loud enough for him to hear.

His heartbeat stopped for a second, a single teardrop coming our from his eyes. "Lucy..!"

He tried to look for help, but everyone was beaten up and desperately need to go to the hospital. Natsu glanced at Makarov, his heart sanked at the sight of him.

"Jii-chan! Please...save Lucy!"

Makarov coughed up blood from his mouth, and looked angrily at the man. "...Ivan! You're going to pay for this! Give back Lucy right now, at this instant!"

Ivan smirked and chuckled, "Why, sorry, but... I can't say 'yes' to that one, father" He spat the word with disgust. Pulling out a simple gun, he pointed to Makarov. "Bye~"

The trigger was pulled, and Raven Tail left that instant

_-o-o-o_

_"I'm sorry, but he's dead."_

The funeral didn't went well, many people screamed not believing the fact that their 'father' figure was dead already.

Even the usual calm Erza cried and shouted while punching the ground, her face red with tears.

The adults tried to calm their childs down to no avail.

Natsu who was the silent one that time, looked the ground with no emotions at all. Truth to be told, he had took the biggest impact in his life. Makarov, his grandfather figure died. And Lucy.. His precious friend, was taken away, and he doesn't know if he'll ever see her , after hours. He decided to say something.

"Everyone! We have to move on"

That was when he was chosen to be the next boss, child or not.

**{END OF ONE SHOT}**

_**A/N; ashdkhusbd. ;w; How late is this chapter! Gomene Minna... **_

_**Reviews;**_

_**Christalish; Nah, it's okay! I'm happy enough XD**_

_**Tawny; for your question, they are mafiosso .w.)7 This is an AU centric fanfic. XD thanks!**_

_**Sereneskydragonslayer; ahaha.. I hope it will be ;) Yep, they are so depressed ._, But it helps with the fic ;D**_

_**Clueless Syndrome; Yep! Congratulations and THANK YOU! C:**_

_**Cupcakegirl633; No problem girl ;) I love reviews after all! And yeah XD Sting and Rogue joined FT, because of Natsu ;) thanks for telling that he's in character! **_

_**Glad you love Claire! I love that girl x3 I'm even drawing her, but I can't post it, don't have a DA (**____**﹏**____**) **_

_**They are smart ;w; and yay! C: I'm really happy that you love it. Sorry for late update!**_

_**Shortypink; xD lol**_

_**Takamiya Sakura; happy (late) valentines xD I'm sad that I'm unable to do a oneshot about Valentine in this fic :'( Too busy...**_

_**Нaнa**__**ɑ**__**º°**____**=Dнaнa**__**ɑ**__**º°=D , a new enemy!**_

_**Moocow4me: More Romance in the later chapters c:**_

_**That's all! Gomen for not updating sooner, bust with exams, but at least I got some nice grades XD I'll be busy until May, but I'll try my best!**_

_**Thank you to all who reviewed, and in my profile, there's a list about my stories. I'm planning to make a Fairy Tail fanfic again, see in the upcoming stories.. Please? .w. And tell me what you think, I'm still debating to write it or not xD**_

_**Thanks to Mariya567 and of course, all of you!**_

_**Review please .w.**_


	15. Chapter 14

_"I'll save her."_

* * *

**Who are You?**

* * *

**Mission 14: Forgiveness.**

_"Mama,"_

_"What is it, my dear?" Layla asked her daughter, smiling sweetly, glancing at her before picking up a flower, admiring its beauty._

_Lucy frowned, as her expression saddened. _

_"Papa.. has been in his office for days already. He wouldn't eat my onigiri..." As if on cue, Lucy brought the rice ball in front of her chest._

_Layla blinked in surprise and sympathy. _

_"Honey, Daddy's been busy... Could you forgive him?"_

_Lucy bit her lip, and refused to answer the question, avoiding her mother's gaze._

_Her mother sighed, and extended her hand toward the child. _

_"Sweetheart, why don't you give mommy the onigiri? Daddy's only busy handling important family matters."_

_"What matters?"_

_"... You'll know soon darling."_

Her eyes fluttered open, a groan escaping her lips. Blinded by the sudden morning light, she curled into her blanket. Her mother's image appeared in her mind once more, like a family portrait, seeing herself at that young age again, standing between her mother and father. That was back when they all had gotten along. Back before her mother's death.

_"It's too late..." The doctor said._

_"All of those hard works I've-?!"_

Blank.

She didn't remember anything after that. Who said that last part..? She didn't know.

It was good that her memory returned, even if most of the memories she had regained were sad and bittersweet. Lucy sighed.

"Sting and Rogue helped me escape from the house when I'd had enough of it... Natsu found me in the forest when I was just wandering around and invited me to Fairy Tail back when we were still kids..."

"I owe them alot." She mumbled to herself.

* * *

"Ah, the newspaper." Lucy reached down and picked up the thick sheaf of paper. Her eyes widened as she opened the front page and read the headline aloud.

_**THE HEARTFILLIA'S DOOMED?!**_

_**With Jude Heartfillia in jail, will there be a sucessor?**_

_**He stated he had a daughter, but he's also said that she had no intention of succeeding him.**_

Her eyebrows rose at the news.

_What?_

The simple phrase was all she could think of. Picking up her cellphone, she dialed a number.

"Um, hello? Can I arrange a meeting with Jude Heartfillia? This is his daughter speaking."

Because that was all she could think of.

* * *

The next thing she knew she was sitting across from him, the only thing separating them being a wall of seemingly fragile glass.

"Father, tell me the truth." She said, crossing her arms over her chest and looking t him without breaking eye contact.

Jude sighed wearily, putting his head in his hands.

"So you found out."

Lucy didn't answer.

"When the first war between the Mafiossos ended, I realized that Fairy Tail was a good place for you." He said, leaning back in his chair. "You and your mother could have been twins for the way you two practically became mirror images of each other... physically and mentally. She cherished friendship, romance, dreams, just like you do now. I heard that when you ran away from home, that you began a life where you valued money as everything and friendship as nothing but a lie. Was it because of me? Back then, I felt a void in my heart, but I didn't know what it was."

Jude let out the breath he had been holding unknowingly.

"For you to understand where I'm going with this, I'll have to start at the beginning."

* * *

_Layla was a merchant at a shop, and she handled it with care. She was beautiful and young, only 16 at the time. She had beautiful blonde hair and the biggest brown eyes, that made her stand out even more with her tall and lithe body._

_Jude was a son of a prestigious family, at the tender age of 18 he could manage the business well and was handsome for his age. It was a common thing to hear young women gossiping about the handsome young businessman._

_The two of them met in a park._

_Carelessly bumping into each other._

_Cliche right?_

_But it was that very cliche that brought them together._

_And predictably, the two fell madly in love._

* * *

_When Layla was 20, Jude asked for her hand in marriage._

_And of course, she accepted._

* * *

_Layla was soon with child, and after she was born, Layla's sickness post birth illness grew in severity and developed into something incurable. _

_Heart Cancer._

_Jude worked hard to find someone who could operate on her. Save her. But no matter where he went, the answer was the same._

"_I'm sorry sir, it's impossible."_

_However, he continued to search for something, __**anything**__, working hard to find a medicine for her. His beloved wife._

* * *

_Lucy was raised in an environment where she knew nothing of the reason why her father remained timelessly busy and why her mother spent each day in the quiet solitude of Heartphilia Manor, never venturing outside._

_Lucy spent her days wishing for the one day her whole family could just sit peacefully together. _

_When one day they can finally be together..._

_That evening of being together was cut short when Layla was suddenly taken to the hospital._

_The light above the door turned off, indicating that the operation had ended. Jude looked unflinchingly at the doctor, waiting for the verdict. _

_"She didn't make it. I'm truly sorry for your loss."_

_Jude could barely contain his rage. _

_"What do you mean 'she didn't make it?!' Did all that hard work I did mean nothing?!"_

_"Sir, I understand you're upset but please, calm down."_

_"How could I calm down?! Now I have nothing left but servants, money and my daughter!"_

_"Sir. "_

_Lucy sobbed, "Papa..."_

_Jude gritted his teeth, composing himself. "Forget about it. Let's go, Lucy. Doctor, the funeral will be tomorrow. Please help with it."_

_That was the day when Jude trapped himself in his office and only cared about money._

* * *

"Layla never did wanted you to tell you the truth about the sickness. She didn't want you to worry about her, you were too young. She believed that it was better if she spent her time together with you in happiness, not sadness. I let her to do that, while I worked to find a cure." He finished, eyes swimming with unshed tears.

Lucy stopped herself from letting a tear falling from her eyes. It would be embarrassing to cry in front of her father. And she hated him, note the past tense.

So that was the truth?

She always hated her father because he never cared.

The saying, "The truth hurts" was true.

"I do not want you to inherit the Heartfillia anymore. It will probably fall. It depends on you. I'm sorry for being such a bad father, Lucy, I'm truly sorry for realizing it now. I hope you will forgive me, but that's only a sad hope. Anything that I can do for you now won't heal the wounds I've already inflicted. Live, Lucy. Like the way your mother did. Follow your heart. I believe in you. And I believe that Fairy Tail is the right family for you, therefore. I entrust you to them."

The tears fell.

Quickly, she wiped them away. No, she wouldn't back down because of this, she refused to cry anymore. But the tears wouldn't stop.

"I..."

Her voice failed because of the tears. She tried again to complete the sentence. "Forgive you."

Looking at the beautiful sunset sky, a smile graced her lips. "Father."

* * *

Lucy arrived in Fairy Tail, well prepared with weapons slung over her shoulders. She strolled in confidently.

"We've been waiting for you, Luce." Natsu grinned, ruffling her hair. "Time to kick some ass."

Lucy laughed at that, "Looking forward to it, Salamander." She grinned wolfishly.

For the sake of their pride.

Family.

Makarov.

Because this is the final battle, they _**will **_win.

* * *

_A/N: I'm terribly sorry that this is late and not to mention short._

_To CupcakeGirl633: I appreciate it. I'm glad you think that so, thanks._

_I'll try my best in the next chapter, make it longer and intense if I can do it. Thanks to Mariya567 for beta-ing as always. If you want, leave a review._


	16. Chapter 15

_**Who are You?**_

******Mission 15: Final War. Part 1**

* * *

Weapons? Check.

Armor (for some people)? Check.

Army of Warriors? Check.

Plan..

"We need a plan." Lucy stated. "This is the final stand, we have to win. So we need a plan,." She turned to Natsu and said cutely. "Bosss~"

Natsu's eyes twitched

"I forfeit as leader if it's gonna be like that." He pouted.

Lucy sighed and turned to her teammates. "Fine, then Erza? Levy-chan? You guys must have some plan." She said expectantly.

Both of them glanced at each other, nodding in agreement.

"We do, but we'll need a technician though.. and some materials for the gadgets."

"Got it. Natsu, call your dad."

"What? Call pops? Why?"

"Because he has the materials, duh."

Natsu was reluctant to call his father. He had refrained from contact ever since he'd discovered that Igneel had gone missing in action. But one day, a girl with straight red hair had visited Fairy Tail HQ and claiming to be Natsu's adopted little sister by Igneel's guidance.

* * *

**[A Few Years Back]**

_"____Who the hell are you, girl?" Macao asked the girl in front of him. Though small, she had a rebellious aura that was slightly intimidating. "Who do you think you are, suddenly barging into Fairy Tail HQ... and with guns too. Are you some kind of rival from some Mafia?" He growled at her, fingering his own weapons. "If you are, then I wont hesitate to put a bullet through your head." Macao threatened._

___The girl scoffed, raising her hands in compliance. _

___"Whoa, dude. Relax. I'm Marianne, Marianne Dragneel."_

___Macao's—or rather, everyone who was present there—eyes bulged. _

___"Dragneel?!"_

___Gray was the one who nudged Natsu out of his stupor. _

___"Oi, Natsu. Isn't your family name Dragneel?"_

___Natsu nodded, speechless. "It is, but I don't remember having a little sister!"_

_"____Techically, I'm your adopted little sister." Marianne corrected him. Seeing the confused looks of everyone, she sighed and explained. "Igneel Dragneel went missing in action 3 years ago. I used to live in the forests just east of here, and one day your father came limping into my territory. He was bruised badly and me, being the nice girl I am, tended to his injuries. In three months that he recovered and he told me everything. I don't know if it was because of the fever but he told me everything about the war, the mafia, and about you, Natsu Dragneel. He began training me and took me as his disciple, and he declared that I would be his adopted daughter. " She finished, eyes faraway, as if remembering a distant memory. "I'm here because I would like to join Fairy Tail. If you'll allow it."_

___Natsu thought to himself, progressing the information to his brain, then he grinned. "Sure! That makes you my little sis, now right? Awesome! You can be my right hand man!"_

_"____Oi, Natsu!" Gray protested._

___Marianne smiled._

**[End Flashback]**

* * *

".. Alright."

Just as he was about to dial Marianne's number, while complaining that he didn't have his father's current number, someone shouted before him. "No need to do that!"

It was a rough voice which Natsu recognized as his father's voice. Natsu blinked, then looked at Igneel. Igneel looked as healthy as ever, being the human he was, he had aged of course, with wrinkles around his eyes and mouth and his once blazing fiery red hair was now a shade of solemn white.

Nevertheless, he was still the Igneel that Natsu knew.

"Pops!"

"Save the reunion for later, we're going to kick up some asses, right?" Igneel barked. "I got you the materials already, come on!"

* * *

"Team 1, you infiltrate the basement! Team 2, roof. Team 3, back side. Team no 4 will be back up!" Erza ordered, earning an enthusiastic 'yes' from them. "Levy, Wendy, Lisanna. I'll count on you with the maps! " The girls nodded. "Everyone has their ear phones? Good! We'll communicate with each other and inform each other! Remember, we have to work together! I don_'t want any of you squabbling. Natsu,Gray if I see you two so much as glare at each other you'll wish you'd never been born_! Fight the enemy, not each other!"

"'Ya know, Erza would make a good leader." Gray commented as Erza wrapped up her briefing.

Lucy shook her head, "But the best would still be Natsu. I believe in that."

The man beside her chuckled, "Of course. You're his girlfriend after all."

"We're not going out."

"Yeah, but you have feelings for him, right?"

Lucy rolled his eyes, "Come on, let's not talk about this."

"What are you two doing! Lucy-san, you already have Natsu-san so don't steal Gray-sama from me!" Juvia whined, butting in between the two.

"I'm not interested in Gray, Juvia!" Lucy sweat dropped, backing away from the navy haired mafia member. "You two just need get together already, geesh." The two blushed and refused to look at each other. She laughed, "Let's go to our respective teams. _Bon fortuna, _you two."

"_Bon fortuna, _to you too, Lucy."

* * *

**TEAM 1**

Rogue hushed the men behind him, by putting his finger to his lips. Rogue stopped and looked slowly at the turn of ways in front of him, he made his best to not be seen by Misdirection as he destroyed the surveillance cameras. When it was clear, he ushered his team to go.

"_**Team 1, your priority is to destroy the surveillance room."**_

_Easier said than done, _He thought. "Call to Levy McGarden, Lisanna and Wendy. I'm in block A-1. Which way to go next?"

His transmission soon had a reply.

"_Go north, pass a few rooms then at the next turn, go right. After that, enter a room which has the logo of a clam. When you enter it, find a door at the west."_

"Got it." He disconnected the connection.

Rogue went as they said, towards north. He whispered to his team to search a room with a clam logo.

His phone suddenly vibrated, he looked it up and saw a video call from Sting who was in Team 2. He clicked answer, and was surprised to see Sting with his weapons. "What happened, Sting?"

"_We've got company here... hurry up and turn off the cameras! They're guarding the roof."_

Rogue cursed. That fast? "I got it. For now, think you can handle them?"

"_Who do you think you're talking to, huh? I'm Sting Eucliffe and we've got a truckload of Fairies here. We can handle this! But it'll be troublesome if they call for back up so hurry up. Cut off their transmission."_

Rogue was a skilled hacker, that was why he was chosen in Team 1 and was assigned to this task.

He smirked, "Will do."

"Rogue! We found the room." Wakaba informed.

_Sweet. _Rogue nodded at him, "Good work. Now let's go!"

"Yes!"

* * *

**TEAM 2**

"The hell!" Sting cursed. "Hold up. There's someone there." He squinted his eyes, "Wait no, not someone. A whole army! Argh, and it just had to be the roof too."

Juvia frowned, "Sting-san. I suggest we go all out, after destroying the camera."

Macao reminded, "Don't cause too much noise though." He pulled out his knifes, "No guns, guys. They cause unwanted attention."

Sting nodded, "I'll inform Rogue about this."

"_What happened, Sting?"_

"We got company... hurry up and turn of the cameras! They're guarding the roof." Sting hurried, readying his weapons.

"_I got it. For now, can you handle them?"_

Sting smirked at his partner, "Who do you think you're talking to, huh? I'm Sting Eucliffe, and we_'ve got a truck load of Fairies here_. We can handle this! But it_'ll _be troublesome if they call for back up so hurry. Cut off their transmission."

_"Will do."_

"Go already you ass."

Juvia glanced at him, "Sting-san. We're all ready."

Sting nodded, "Let's get this show on the road."

* * *

**TEAM 3**

Erza and Lucy glanced at each other, nodding.

"_**Team no 3, you're assigned to block off all the exits. I don't care if you blow it up, **__**destroy it, whatever, just don**__'t __**let them escape."**_

"Typical Natsu. Idiot, dense, hot headed." Lucy sighed. Pulling out the grenade on her palm, "But that's what I like about you." She whispered.

Erza called Rogue, "Rogue, done turning off the cameras?"

"_Just wait for a few, I'm doing it right now."_

"Make it fast." Erza glowered and tapped her foot impatiently.

"_Got the password. Turning off progress in 10%...25%..40%.. 50%..70%.. 90%..99%..100%! Done. Anything more?"_

"Any chance you could make the grenade soundless?"

"_I can make the room soundproof. Wait a few. Wow, Raven Tail's technology is pretty ...high tech...Alright, I'm done. "_

"Good work." Erza complimented. "Be on guard. Lucy, throw it."

Lucy threw it, plugging her ears.

___KABOOM!_

* * *

**TEAM 4**

"Is it really okay that we stay here, doing nothing?" Marianne asked her brother. "I know we're a back up and all but..."

Gray stopped Marianne from continuing, "Let him. We'll be back up if he orders us. That's all."

"At least, can I just go over the roof and—"

"No." Natsu cut her off. "I know your feeling. But put your duties first."

"THAT WAS SO NOT YOU, BRO." Marianne panicked. "Who are you?!" She pulled his hair. "... Black hair..?"

"Ah.. you found out." Marianne widened her eyes. This was not her brother's voice! Come to think of it.. his sound just now sounded like from a recorder.

"Who are you?" She demanded.

The man pulled out his facial mask. He has black hair that sticks upwards at the top, dark eyes and abnormally sharp canines. "I... am called; Zeref."

"Zeref... the famous mafioso?! Why are you here?" Gray yelled in disbelief, eyes widening.

Zeref scratched his head, "Well, you could say that I'm indebted to Natsu. And I'm here to repay the debt. He asked me to stand in for him for a while, but seeing that you guys already found out.."

Marianne scowled, annoyed at her brother. "Then, where the hell is that damn brother of mine?"

"Ah that. I don't know."

Gray face palmed, "Great. Where did that flame head go? Gajeel probably went with him too!"

Marianne hid her irritation, "Whatever. Leave him be, I bet he's entering the base right now, that ass!"

_Tch, _Gray growled.___Don't you dare die, Natsu__!_

* * *

**With Natsu**

The boss walked calmly through the hallways , nodding proudly at the work of his comrades.

"Natsu Dragneel." A familiar voice greeted him.

Natsu inclined his head at the enemy, acknowledging their presence.

"Haru.. was it?" He took out his flame thrower, and dynamites.

Haru smiled sweetly, "So you remember me. How cute."

Natsu prepared lighting up the dynamites. "How can I forget?"

"You're stupider than you look, you know!" Haru cheerfully chirped in response.

Natsu groaned in frustration. "I seem to get that a lot strangely. Now hold still, I_'m about to blow you sky high_!" He threw the dynamites as lighting them with his flame thrower simultaneously.

___BOOM!_

******To be continued****.**

* * *

_A/N; I so terrible for updating this so late lol. At least my exams are over, right? Thanks to Mariya567 who beta-ed this!_

_Who's excited for the fighting scenes? I know I'm not /shot/ writing it is hard. that's why orz_

_Thank you to those who favorited/alerted/reviewed this story :D Ciao ciao~_


	17. Author Notes

.. Ello guys, what's up bros? :v I hope you are doing fine, let's brofist first, shall we?

I guess I'm in no position to say that, hoh. Look here, looks like I shocked you guys with the new chapter but this is not a chapter I'm sorry for that. This is an Author's comment/notes for the upcoming chapters.

Haha, even though it's probably not important, please read this.

The next chapter of this fanfic.. I don't think I'll make it soon. Maybe soon enough, but I don't know. Probably it will be a long chapter, and preferably it will. I will have to do harder for longer chapters with fighting scenes. I love long chapters for some reasons. Now why would it be in HIATUS for a while; you see, it is a fighting scenes and I'm unable to write it even though you already saw how I write it. I'm trying to make it better but failed to do so.

I'm running out of ideas, how shall they fight or things like that. True that I have an idea but I want to make it more epic-like lol. I'm putting my pride in the next chapter, if it fails then I fail as an author, really.

Depressing. You must think that I'm in depressed mood. Well you guessed right. Lately, I can't focus in this fanfic because I feel that it's losing readers. So are you still up for this fanfic? I don't even know.

It's exams week, so maybe that's the reason. But I'm still not sure, there are people like me I think who doesn't study unless at night or at morning. And read fanfics secretly.

The other reason why I'm losing focus in this story is because I don't have any ideas for the epilogue, I can sense that NaLu feels are not that romantic, only fluff things like that. Hell, I don't even know whether it will be cute or not. Romance things in angst way is hard, this fanfic is a bit angst right? Rogue and Sting like that ahaha

Right.. I love angst.

So I have no idea for the epilogue. I plan to make them marry or something, I dunno. I think I can do that, though.

I KNOW I FAIL AS AN AUTHOR DON'T GIVE ME FLAMES ABOUT THIS AUTHOR NOTE.

And graduation for me is near, I'm in free time, But tomorrow I'm going to a trip. So bye bye writing for 3 days.

BELIEVE ME, I'VE BEEN WRITING THE CHAPTER-CHAPTER 16 FOR DAYS.

And now is searching for some ideas for the fighting scenes again! HELL, HARU'S AND NATSU'S FIGHT IS STILL SO SHORT.

Even though I have written it for days, it haven't reached 500 words yet, I know, lame right?

So that's the problem. I hope you readers understand the confusion I'm having.

I promise I'll complete this fanfic, but with no interest. Sorry. I hope my writing can still be good even though I'm in bad mood. I will complete this. But I don't know when I can do that.

Kuroai, out.


	18. Chapter 16

**Who are you?**

**Chapter 16; Battle final part.**

* * *

Smoke filled the entire room, obscuring the other from view, leaving them no way to rely on their sense of sight to guide them in attacking or defending. A disembodied voice coughed, and the Raven Tail's fighter appeared, gripping his now bleeding arm. Haru swung both of his arms experimentally, relieved that both of them were still functional, though the burn mark on his arm wasn't a pleasant sight.

His clucked his tongue in irritation, bringing out his double handguns and began to carefully walk forward, searching for his opponent.

As Haru passed the rocks, Natsu grumbled to himself. Thank Igneel for teaching him camouflage, at times like this. He hadn't been able to avoid the flying debris as well as he would have liked which resulted in injuries. Though none as bad as Haru's from what he could see.

Natsu released a groan as he got up, tired of hiding and wanting to get the fight over and done with.

Haru noticed Natsu immediately, glaring at him as aimed the gun and pulled the trigger repeatedly. Satisfaction filled the man as he watched Natsu dance this way and that, dodging the shots.

Natsu dodged or deflected the flying projectiles, thinking hard of a counterattack. The bullets missed Natsu by mere centimeters thanks to his lightning fast reflexes.

"As expected from Fairy Tail's Boss, I guess." Haru chuckled not in the least unnerved by Natsu`s ability to fight. "But, I wonder how long you can keep that up?"

His left emerald eye widened glimmering with insanity as he cackled. Without warning, he charged at Natsu, leaping into a flying kick aimed at his gut, though Natsu easily avoided it and instead caught hold of Haru's foot instead, rendering him somewhat immobile.

Haru gritted his teeth, and spun his free leg up, attempting to clock Natsu in the head, who let go Haru's foot in an attempt to dodge the shot. He used Natsu's moment of vulnerability and shot him, aiming straight for his heart.

Natsu slightly doubled over, reeling from the shock. Fortunately, he had seen it coming and the shot missed its mark, lodging itself instead, firmly in his rib bones. He retaliated quickly and in the moment that Haru began to pull away Natsu lashed out and stabbed Haru with the dagger he had hidden in his sleeve.

Both equally injured, they jumped back and glared at each other. Natsu winced as he held the injury and Haru stared at the blood that was now beginning to pool around him.

Appearing to have discarded sanity completely, Haru began to pull out any remaining firearms and just shot at random. Hitting his target was not a priority but rather he was making sure that Natsu could do nothing else but try and avoid the bullets. Haru was unsurprised when Natsu pulled his flame throwers out. He was, however, surprised when Natsu held his flamethrowers behind him and used it as a makeshift jet pack, the force of the flames projecting him in Haru's direction.

His fist collided solidly with Haru's face, as his free hand grabbed Haru's jacket and yanked him up, head butting the man with force. Haru yelped in pain, tugging at Natsu's hand, gripping his shirt with an iron fist.

"_THAT'S_ FOR HURTING LUCY!" Natsu shouted angrily, hitting Haru again. " And _this_ is for destroying Fairy Tail HQ!"

Natsu put all his strength in his last punch, using to convey every unspoken emotion he felt.

"And this is for hurting us—FAIRY TAIL!"

As Natsu was now panting with exhaustion, he looked at the phone he held. His background screen images showed his comrades, and his precious person; Lucy Heartfillia. They were smiling, as if thanking him.

And lastly, a picture of Makarov showed up.

"Don't think you've won already—" Growling voice startled the Fairy Tail boss. Emerald—glinted with golden flash faced black eyes. His face which was already covered with blood and dirt made Haru looked like a something out of a zombie horror movie, especially his eyes which glared intensely at Natsu. "The hell I'll lose." His arm shot out, catching Natsu by surprise and grabbed a hold of Natsu's neck.

Suddenly, he was choking and all he could see was Haru's face above his own.

Smiling.

He was _choking._

"Die."

_BANG._

* * *

Rogue was battling with the main computer in the security, trying to keep the signals jammed for as long as possible and at the same time, he was keeping tabs on his comrades, directing them and relaying commands. Realizing that they were short a few too many people, he called Erza for back-up.

"Shadow person." A woman's voice rang out behind him.

Rogue cursed in response, pulling out his katana, taking his earpiece off and setting on the control desk.

"Erza, I got company. Just hurry up and send back-up will you?!"

The woman smirked, as if enjoying a private joke.

"The back-up means nothing." She giggled. "I'll kill all of them...and you too, pretty boy, if you're not careful." She paused for a moment and continued in her singsong voice. "Kidding. Even if you are careful, you're still as good as dead."

"Let's see about that." He replied, darting from left to right in front of her, gaining a bit more ground each time. Suddenly, he disappeared from her sight all together.

The woman frowned, "Hey, it`s rude to stand up your opponent. Are you _really_ running away from me?" Her hand stung suddenly she looked down to see a bleeding cut on it. She clicked her tongue in irritation, bring the laceration up to her mouth and licking the blood off. "Well, well, seems like you're still here, aren't you~. You've got some balls after all" She purred. "The name's Flare, pretty boy~"

Rogue narrowed his eyes. "The name's Rogue Cheney..." This time, he said it proudly. "Son of Skiadrum, and a mafioso from Fairy Tail."

"..Skiadrum?" Her smile widened and it appeared the name gave her some kind of sick pleasure as her eyes became bigger. "So you're the one...the son of the man Boss had so much fun killing."

Catching Rogue off guard with the sudden knowledge, he stumbled in his steps.

"W-what?"

"Hihi, found you!" She whipped him with the crop she held in her hands. Rogue flinched as he held the wound, his cheek burning in pain. "Don't let your guard down darling ~."

Rogue glared. "What did you just say about Skiadrum?"

"Oh dear, What _did_ I say? Oh no, it appears I've forgotten." She smiled mockingly at him, knowing the desire to know was eating him alive.

He grit his teeth, he would only get his answer when he defeat the woman, he supposed.

"I guess if I want answers, I'll have to defeat you first." He pointed his katana at her and charged.

Let the battle begin.

* * *

"Rogue! Are you there? Oy, answer me!" Sting Eucliffe demanded a response from his friend on his earpiece, and yet he received none. Clicking his tongue at the phone, he looked at his opponent.

"You're going to die here." Said the figure while licking his lips.

Sting smirked.

"I don't know about that. A lot of people have said that to me. It hasn't happened yet, and I _really_ don't think you'll be the one to off me to be honest. No offense."

Sting whipped his scythe at the cloaked figure, which resulted in the cloak being torn off the unmoving man.

"Yo." Sting said, beckoning the man to him. "You ready to do this?"

Nullpudding glared.

* * *

The explosion from Lucy's stick of dynamite sent her and Erza flying.

As the smoke cleared, a tap on Erza's shoulder startled her, as she turned, drawing her sword and slashed... thin air.

'Where did-?'

Realization came to her late.

"LUCY!"

"I know!" Lucy replied hastily. She opened fire on the man in front of them instantly.

But he was too fast.

Her guns were taken by the man in black, grinning as he revealed his face.

Kurohebi.

"Kehh!" Erza cursed, launching her sword to Kurohebi who moved to his right—dodging the blow. He punched Erza, who caught his fist. With her other hand, she locked his hands in place and firmly kneed him.

To make sure he stayed down, Lucy punched Kurohebi straight in the face, watching him crumple to the floor, unconscious.

"That should do it. Thanks, Lucy." Erza let him go, pushing him to the side with her steel toed feet.

"... Yeah." She replied, Lucy looked around uneasily. "Erza, I have a bad feeling about Natsu.."

The knight raised her eyebrow, though she nodded anyways.

"We must hurry then."

* * *

"_Igneel!"_

"_What, Natsu?"_

"_Hehe! Look, I caught a cicada!"_

"_Ho? Let me see."_

"_... Natsu."_

"_Yeah?"_

_Igneel smiled._

"_Good work, son."_

* * *

_His tears fell down._

"_Igneel..."_

"_...You're gone?"_

"_I'm alone now?"_

"_... Goddamnit.."_

* * *

Natsu's eyes flew open.

His grip on Haru's hand tightened.

"... "

Haru's whole body was shaking in anger.

He had missed.

And it was his only opportunity to defeat Natsu.

Natsu kicked him with all of his strength.

And the victor was decided.

* * *

"_Yes. My boss was the one who killed your father."_

"_So what?"_

"_Kill me."_

"_You win, Rogue Cheney."_

"_..."_

"_**Fairy Tail**__ wins."_

* * *

_After that, Natsu had headed towards the boss._

_Yet he only found a corpse of him._

_It appeared that rather than be caught by the police, he would prefer to die._

_And so, the war ended._

_By, Lucy Heartfillia._

* * *

**Since the next chapter is the final, and the notes will only be me and my beta reader. I shall put the notes right here.**

**Thank you so much for all of your support, for sticking to this crappy story of mine. I know I'm not talented. **

**And yes, I can't write romance at all, pssh. Just send your hates all to me if you're not satisfied.**

**PM or reviews, I can take 'em. Just had a mental breakdown, so maybe I'll be fine handling them. We'll all be happy, no?**

**OTL that was a joke.**

**Yup, I friggin love you all. **

**My first NaLu one and it's finished. Quite proud, though I must say, I won't write romance again pssh, I can't understand it at all.**

**Byeeee~ **


	19. Epiloque

After returning to the base with victory, they all chorused 'we won' with a winning smile.

As they still group hugged together, father of Natsu approached his son and embraced him into a big hug.

"I'm proud of you, son."

Natsu looked at his father, grinning childishly. "You got it, pops."

A reunion of father and son after not seeing each other-in years.

Igneel smirked. "Now you go to her!"

"Huh?"

Pair of lips clashed with each other.

Both of them blushed furiously. "Luce.."

"Natsu.." Lucy responded. ".. Ne, Natsu. Do you remember our promise at child?"

".."

_Little Lucy brought a thorn made from flowers, beautiful ones. "Natsu! Let's make a promise! When we get older, let's get married!"_

_Natsu looked at her, chuckling. "Hehe, sure!"_

"..Yeah." Natsu said. Then he grinned. "That's a promise, and a promise is a promise, right?"

_I'm glad I remembered._

* * *

**EPILOQUE**

Soft pair of lips met his.

Choruses of congratulations were soon heard.

"Heh. So Lucy finally married Natsu-san." Sting laughed. "Deja vu-ish, I remembered the time when we planned that escape from our own 'wedding'."

Rogue sipped on his tea. "Ah..right, back when you two were supposed to get hitched? Brings back memories."

Sting's lips twitched in annoyance.

"Meh." His comrade chuckled.

".. It's great that they're finally happy. They really do look like they're in love." Rogue coughed, suddenly choking on his tea and looked at Sting in shock.

"Are you being romantic?...What a rare sight."

"...shut up."

* * *

"Papa!" A girl with long pink hair, tied into twin tails called out for her papa. Her large onyx eyes blinked as her father scooped her up in his arms, asking what the matter was. She pointed to a woman with long blonde hair, writing without break. "Mama keeps on writing even though I asked her to play with me!"

Mama sighed apologetically and glanced at her.

"Nashi, I'm busy... This is for our family you know."

The father grinned. "You could always take a rest Luce!"

Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Ne, Luce." Natsu chimed in. "Who am I?" The grin on his face making her smile widely.

She never tired of this question.

"Natsu Dragneel, my husband."

_FIN FINALLY_

* * *

**Last comments to beta Reader;**

**Thank you very much for sticking to this crappy story of mine lol. I can't write romance it seems XP So I'll leave it just like this. Thank you for all the hard work you had done. Without you, this story can't go on.I can't thank you enough.**

**I'm sorry for all the errors I've made, thank you for having the patience with this.**

**One final word, Thanks.**

**_Titania**

Last Comments:

Thank _you_, for putting up with me, I'm sure it must have been annoying to put up with such an inexperienced beta reader. But I am glad you chose me. I'm almost sorry to see this story finished. It was a pleasure to beta it for you, and enjoyed reading as a reader. Me, being as inexperienced as I am, I'm happy my first story to beta was yours. I wish you luck in future stories, and I ask that the readers continue to read Titana_Falls' stories. I know I will!

Mariya567.

**Last comment to her again; ohgosh my feels, I can't take this anymore ;w; You are too kind to me. Thank you for the wish. And no no, I'm very glad I have a beta reader like you! Thank you very much, my god I'm so crying out of happiness right now ;A; **

**I DEMAND YOU READERS TO READ MARIYA567'S STORIES LIKE, RIGHT NOW!**

**Fin.**


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